


Life of a Conquering Alpha

by Miz636



Series: Rise of an Alpha [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Good Slytherins, Next Generation, Slytherin Harry, Universe Alteration, post—hogwarts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-05
Updated: 2015-06-12
Packaged: 2018-04-03 02:06:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4082593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miz636/pseuds/Miz636
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After seven years of Hogwarts and winning the war against Voldemort, Harry now has a chance to live a somewhat normal life. Watch as he and his friends get jobs, have children, live their lives, and change the Wizarding world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the sequel to an entire trilogy, so if you haven't read the trilogy, this won't make much sense. I hope you enjoy seeing what my characters got up to after Hogwarts. :)

**September 7, 1998**

Just three months after the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry Potter sat in his seat at the Wizengamot, Draco Black and Theodore — Theo — Nott on either side of him. Neville Longbottom was sitting behind him with Blaise Zabini beside him and Susan Bones on his other side. Also in the group were Hannah Abbott, Katie Bell, and Daphne Greengrass.  
  
Many in the group had their family seats because their parents passed them on when the children requested them. Together they made up about a fourth of the Wizengamot, and they were the voice of the next generation, making sweeping changes in the Wizarding World of Britain with their laws.  
  
Harry was viewed as their leader, and his friends all backed him up with their various votes and ideas. It, of course, helped that the rest of the Wizarding world didn’t want to fight Harry as he was the one to finally defeat Lord Voldemort just three months before.  
  
“Are there any new laws to be brought up during this session, or are we done?” the Chief Warlock asked, looking directly at the youngest in the room as he did so.  
  
“We have another addition for the werewolf laws we’ve been putting forth,” Neville said, raising a folder up slightly from his lap.  
  
“Very well, Mr. Longbottom,” the man sighed. “Please come forth and tell us about this new law.”  
  
“Thank you, Chief Warlock,” Neville said as he rose and walked down to be able to watch everyone. Harry just grinned slightly at him. Neville had become the spokesperson for the group, but everyone knew that it was mostly Harry and a few others’ ideas that he brought up.  
  
“The idea brought forth this time is one that suggests a law that states there must be a place for werewolves in every town that has wizards in it unless it’s a full-Muggle area.” Neville held up his hand before questions could be asked. “By this I mean a sort of area, perhaps in a basement, that has reinforcements for werewolves to be in on the full moon, even if they are on the Wolfsbane Potion because the law does state that werewolves still need to be locked in, just in case.  
  
“This will allow werewolves to travel around the full moon without fear of being trapped without a place to go, just in case. It will also bring some relief to those who fear a werewolf being on the loose because he or she can’t get home right before a transformation for some reason or another, like an injury.”  
  
Neville then stood there quietly, folder in both hands and held before him, a slight smile on his face. Harry saw the other Wizengamot members whispering back and forth about the idea, and the general tone and facial expression was positive. In fact, a few looked relieved by the idea, making Harry believe Neville’s final point was true even within this very body of people. That would certainly help.  
  
“Let us hold a vote on this new law with Mr. Longbottom obviously for,” the Chief Warlock said as the talking quieted down. “All in favor?” Hands rose around the room, not a single one down. “Motion passed unanimously. Mr. Longbottom, please provide the new law for the record.”  
  
As Neville handed the law to the court scribe, Harry and the others shared small grins. That was the second-to-last law in a long line of laws for werewolves they had written over the past two years with Remus Lupin’s help before he died in battle. He had approved every single one, and they were doing this in his memory.  
  
“We’re going to have to move onto our laws about Aurors soon,” Harry commented as Neville walked up to them and the court was adjourned; they were waiting to talk for a bit before leaving. “We’re almost done with werewolves, and those laws do need to be passed soon so that the level of Auror training doesn’t go down again, just in case.”  
  
“While we’re getting those passed we should continue talking with the goblins about the rights they want so that we can bring them up once that’s done,” Susan commented lightly.  
  
“I believe Hermione wanted to work with some house-elves from various sources to see what sort of laws might be needed for them,” Blaise added with a roll of his eyes. Hermione had been going crazy about house-elves all summer since seeing how some were treated by the darker Purebloods.  
  
“That will probably take a couple of years to get to, though,” Harry reminded them, and that made them sigh in relief. “Right now we need to work on the Ministry and the magical creatures most affected by the war, as you all know.”  
  
“And that’s why Aurors are next,” Hannah stated.  
  
“Susan, can you talk with your aunt about the newest ideas for the Ministry laws we made?” Draco asked, passing Susan a folder that Harry knew was full of ideas thought up over the past couple of weeks to help the Ministry cleanup.  
  
“Sure,” Susan agreed, “but you do know it’s going to take a few years to truly purge the Ministry of its many problems.”  
  
“We know, Susan, we truly do, but if we don’t start now, it will be even harder to do in the future,” Katie said.  
  
“All very good points, everyone,” Harry said before someone else could talk. “Why don’t we go out to lunch before some of us head over to Hogwarts to have that meeting with McGonagall about the laws and rules surrounding Hogwarts?”  
  
There was a general agreement among the group as they stood to leave the courtroom.

…

“Only a week into the school year, and you’re back,” Professor Minerva McGonagall commented with a small smile as she took in the sight of Harry and his friends, who had only left Hogwarts at the end of June.  
  
“You know it was inevitable, Professor,” Harry reminded her with a laugh. “I specifically remember you telling us you knew you’d see us again soon.”  
  
“True, very true,” Professor McGonagall had to admit. “Now, take a seat, and we’ll go over these rules and laws. Some are obviously outdated and need to be changed to fit our time while others should just be thrown out. I’ve also got some ideas for some new rules and laws for Hogwarts…”

…

“That was quite the productive few hours,” Harry said as he, Draco, Blaise, Daphne, and Theo walked down to the Great Hall for some dinner, Professor McGonagall not far behind them. “We’ll have to bring this up in a couple weeks once it’s all been sorted out.”  
  
Before the others could reply, they reached the Entrance Hall and were assaulted by a few of their friends.  
  
Ginny Weasley hugged Harry the moment she caught sight of him, pulling his head down for a quick kiss before going to greet the others. Astoria Greengrass had done the same with Draco before hugging her older sister tightly. Maya and Graham Pritchard had also come over to the group, Natalie MacDonald with them.  
  
Once they entered the Great Hall, they had a bunch of students all over them, saying hello. It took the group a while to be able to sit down and enjoy a meal, talking to everyone around them and catching up.  
  
As he ate his meal, Harry couldn’t help but notice that the mood in the Great Hall was quite different from his first year. Three months wasn’t anywhere close to enough time to wipe away the darkness in eyes and weariness from bones. The students were laughing and enjoying themselves, but Harry saw that the light in their eyes wasn’t very bright, no matter how hard they were laughing.  
  
Hogwarts was a school full of adults in children’s bodies, and even the new first years had a darkness about them after the war except for the Muggle-borns, who were more obvious now than ever before by the complete innocence in them. It would take Hogwarts quite a while to recover from this, though Harry was pleased to see the progress already made.  
  
“We’ll be fine,” Ginny whispered in his ear softly, and Harry turned to smile gently at her and nod.  
  
He could see that without even trying.

………

**February 24, 2000**  
  
Harry walked swiftly through the halls of the Ministry of Magic, making his way to the Law Department. He had a meeting with Hermione to finish up the draft for a new law involving house-elves.  
  
When he reached her office, he knocked on the door and was told to “Come in.” Hermione’s office was a mess of papers stacked everywhere in folders with filing cabinets full of even more paper. She appeared to be searching for something but couldn’t find it.  
  
“Hey Hermione,” he said as he used his wand to move a stack of papers onto the floor beside the chair opposite hers at her desk, sitting down quickly.  
  
“Hello Harry,” she replied, not even looking up. “Sorry for the mess, but I can’t find my folder on the elf laws.”  
  
“That would be because you gave it to me for safe keeping, knowing it would get lost in the mess of paperwork you were getting this week because of a new trial going on,” Harry reminded her with a chuckle as she looked up at him sharply, and hitting herself on the head. “Let’s clean this up.”  
  
“Thanks for the help,” she said as they worked together to file her papers again using their wands.  
  
“No problem,” Harry said. “So, are we going to get straight to work or talk for a bit before that?” Hermione was always the one to set the pace of their meetings, so he knew it would be easier just to ask.  
  
“Let’s talk for a bit,” she decided. “It’s been a few days since I’ve seen you with all of this going on. How’s Teddy doing?”  
  
“Walking and calling me ‘Awwy’ still,” Harry said with a chuckle as he thought about this almost-two-year-old godson. “He enjoys seeing little Victoire when we go to Bill and Fleur’s or they come to Marauder Manor.”  
  
“How are they doing?” Hermione asked with a fond smile.  
  
“Just fine, but haven’t you been talking with them at all?”  
  
“I’ve really been spending too much time in the office the past couple of weeks. Thankfully this trial is done tomorrow and I get two days off for doing so well with it.”  
  
“Yes, thankfully,” Harry stated. “This trial has been a pain to spend so much time at. The others have been complaining that they haven’t had the chance to go do their other jobs as much as their bosses would like because of this. Luckily the amount of time spent in a courtroom has gone down dramatically since the war ended and we cleaned up the Ministry so much or they’d lose their jobs. Except for the rare exceptions like this trial, we spend only one session every two weeks together.”  
  
“Quite fortunate,” Hermione agreed. “How are the others doing with their new jobs?”  
  
“Daphne’s well on her way to becoming a Potions Mistress by working with Professor Slughorn,” Harry said, thinking about what the others were doing outside of their political jobs. “Susan is doing well with her healing lessons under Madam Pomfrey, though I don’t envy her that. Tracey has been working with Muggle technology, trying to figure out how to make it work off of Magic, but I don’t know how well it’s going.”  
  
“Last I heard, Justin was studying to be a professor at Cambridge,” Hermione commented as Harry paused to remember what the others were doing.  
  
“Ah, yes, I remember that now,” Harry said with a nod. “The goblins enjoy working with Theo at Gringotts, teaching him all about banking and how to do it well, especially because they know he was a big help with the new goblin laws. Neville has been working with Professor Sprout as her trainee for when she retires.”  
  
“I’ve seen Hannah at the Leaky Cauldron, helping Tom out as he gets older and finds it harder and harder to work well,” Hermione added. “She’s mentioned Tom’s thought about leaving the place to her and retiring because she’s done so well. And isn’t Maya learning under Professor McGonagall how to become a Transfiguration Mistress and possibly take over for whichever professor they have right now?”  
  
“That’s what Ginny told me she was doing just the other day. I’ve heard McGonagall is truly impressed by Maya’s ability in the subject and has been heard asking Maya why she didn’t show this much promise during her Hogwarts days.” Harry snorted at the memory. “Turns out Maya told her she had been holding back because she had already been two years ahead in Transfiguration since her second year. McGonagall’s jaw was said to have fallen open.”  
  
“I can’t even picture that image,” Hermione snorted. “It just seems so unlikely.”  
  
“I know,” Harry sighed, shaking his head with a smile. “What I would have given to see that… Maybe Maya would be willing to give us a Pensieve memory or something. Anyway, have you seen much of Terry and Padma lately?”  
  
“Not since they joined the Department of Mysteries, sadly,” Hermione said. “Still, I figure not hearing from them is better than hearing bad news. They’re probably enjoying the research down there quite a bit.”  
  
“True, true,” Harry sighed. “Well, come on, let’s work on this new law so that I can be ready to present the lot in two weeks.”

…

“How was the meeting with Hermione?” Ginny Potter asked as she walked into the living room where Harry was sitting in his armchair reading a book.  
  
“We talked about most of the others for a bit, trying to keep track of them all, and then we made some good headway in the elf rights she wants,” Harry replied, putting down the book and raising his arms in an offer for his wife. “How was practice?”  
  
“Exhausting, but it went well,” Ginny sighed as she sat down on his lap, Harry’s arms wrapped around her. “Even as a reserve, being a Professional Chaser can be exhausting.”  
  
“And they all wonder why I didn’t agree to play Seeker on a Pro team along with being on the Wizengamot,” Harry laughed. “Between the two, I’d be so busy and exhausted I’d have no time for anything else!”  
  
“Very true,” Ginny said as she rested her head on his shoulder. “Plus, with Andromeda and Teddy living here with us, we’ve got things besides work to think about.”  
  
“I’m still just relieved she accepted the offer to stay here because looking after Teddy by herself would be hard. With us here as well, she gets a chance to relax.”  
  
“Yeah,” Ginny agreed, closing her eyes.  
  
“Come on, let’s get you to bed,” Harry said, reaching one arm under Ginny’s knees to carry her up to their room so that she didn’t have to walk. “We can talk more in the morning when you aren’t so exhausted.”  
  
Ginny was about to argue but yawned before saying, “Fine…”  
  
Harry just grinned slightly and took his wife to their room.

………

**May 2, 2002**  
  
“Hey, Teddy, can you find Ginny up there?” Harry asked his godson as they watched the Quidditch match between the Harpies vs. the Tornados.  
  
“Yeah!” four-year-old Teddy yelled, pointing up at the only Harpies player with red hair.  
  
“Good job, Teddy,” Harry said, smiling down at the boy with turquoise hair. This wasn’t his first Quidditch match, but Teddy always enjoyed the ones with his godmother playing the most.  
  
As she passed by the box on her pre-match fly around the pitch, Ginny waved to them both, and Teddy returned it enthusiastically. He was obviously loving this.  
  
Soon after that, the match began. They both watched as Ginny got the Quaffle before anyone else, rushing towards the other team’s goalposts before making a sudden pass to her teammate behind her. The match progressed quickly after that, Ginny making so many goals that the Tornados had no chance of keeping up.  
  
With the score 200-60 in favor of the Harpies — sixteen of the Harpies goals made or assisted by Ginny — the Seekers went into sharp dives down to the ground. Harry could see the Snitch in front of them and saw the Harpies Seeker reach out and grab it just before they both pulled up.  
  
Harry began cheering and Teddy mimicked him, the rest of the crowd catching on quickly as the Snitch was raised into the air.  
  
The Harpies had won.

…

“How did you enjoy the match, Teddy?” Ginny asked as she bent down on one knee to accept her godson’s hug while grinning up at Harry.  
  
“It was amazing, Ginny!” the little boy exclaimed happily, pulling out of the hug to throw his arms into the air. Ginny laughed as she ruffled his hair.  
  
“I’m glad you enjoyed it so much, then. Why don’t we go get some dinner before heading home?”  
  
“Okay!” he said, still smiling.  
  
Shaking his head in amusement, Harry grasped Teddy’s hand and led his godson and wife from the locker rooms to the Apparition point. They dodged the press as Harry took them to a Muggle restaurant to have dinner at.  
  
As Teddy ate his chicken fingers, Harry and Ginny were discussing the match, Teddy listening peacefully.  
  
“That was a good match,” Harry complimented. “You played well.”  
  
“Thanks,” Ginny said. “That last pass to Gwen made it possible to score that last point before Lucy caught the Snitch. Speaking of the Snitch, did you spot it again?”  
  
“Only when I saw the Seekers diving for it,” Harry said. “You know I watch you more than the Seekers now.”  
  
“True, but you could have been a great Seeker if you had gone Pro.”  
  
“Don’t remind me,” Harry groaned. “Draco, Theo, Blaise, and Ron were ready to kill me when they found out I had turned down all of those offers as the others began getting jobs outside of the Wizengamot. I just don’t have the time, and I’m good with working alongside Hermione so that the Wizengamot has contact with the Law Department.”  
  
“I know, Harry,” Ginny said softly, her hand on his arm. “They’re just upset because no one offered them a chance to play, and the one friend who got it from the Slytherin team turned it down.”  
  
“I know, I know,” Harry said as he glanced at Teddy. “Teddy! Careful with that!” Harry reached out to grab the glass of milk Teddy was lifting, helping his godson carefully drink some without spilling it. The four-year-old had somehow gotten the lid off of the cup and was trying to drink it how he and Ginny were.  
  
“Thank you, Harry,” Teddy said, and Harry grinned at the boy.  
  
“You’re welcome, Teddy, but you need to be careful.” Teddy nodded as he went back to his meal.  
  
“You’re so good with him, Harry,” Ginny said softly, and he looked over at her and smiled slightly.  
  
“I’m treating him how I wished I had been treated when I was his age,” Harry admitted. “It also doesn’t hurt that I got plenty of practice working with kids years younger than me at Hogwarts.”  
  
“True,” Ginny said, her smile now a frown at the reminder of his childhood.  
  
“I’m fine, I don’t live with them anymore, and I’ll be a better father than my uncle ever was,” he said, placing a hand on Ginny’s arm.  
  
“Yes, you will be, eventually,” Ginny agreed quietly, placing her hand over his and looking into his eyes.  
  
“Ginny, Harry, can I have more milk?” Teddy asked, making them both look at him while chuckling.  
  
“Sure thing, Ted,” Harry said, reaching over to help his godson.

………

**May 2, 2003**  
  
Harry groaned quietly as he looked through the folder he had been given just five minutes before. He was sitting in the study of his home, Muggle pen in hand as he read over the laws one of the others on the Wizengamot wanted him to look over to see if it met his approval.  
  
Sometimes, being the leader of the youngest generation on the Wizengamot was a pain in the arse.  
  
Putting down the sheets of parchment and pen, he used two fingers to rub the bridge of his nose, lifting his glasses up in the process. He had just gotten _done_ with a folder just like this not an hour before, and here he was being given another, this one about a suggestion to look through the lists of spells and creatures seen as Dark _again_ using new parameters to cut out the less-dangerous ones.  
  
A knock on the door caught his attention, and Harry called out, “Come in.”  
  
It took him a moment after the door opened to realize it was Teddy in the doorway, his small hand holding the handle as he poked his turquoise-colored head into the room.  
  
“Come here, Ted,” Harry offered, during his chair to the side and holding out his arms. Teddy grinned and ran around Harry’s desk, hopping into his arms and settling down comfortably onto Harry’s lap.  
  
“What are you doing, Harry?” he asked, looking at the sheets of parchment on the desk.  
  
“Looking over more laws and ideas again, bud,” Harry sighed. “It’s really boring, and your godfather doesn’t want to do it anymore. Now, is there something you needed, or were you just bored again?”  
  
“Just bored,” Teddy said matter-of-factly, making Harry chuckle.  
  
“Well, then, why don’t we go find your football and kick it around in the backyard for a little while?” Harry suggested.  
  
“Yeah!” Teddy exclaimed happily, wiggling in Harry’s lap until he put the five-year-old down. Once his feet hit the ground, Teddy took off at the run to go find his ball and shoes, leaving Harry laughing as he stood up to follow, waving his wand to put the paperwork away. It could wait a few more hours.  
  
“Harry, come on!” Teddy yelled from down the hall, and Harry replied, “I’m coming, Teddy!”

…

“I see you two are having fun,” Ginny commented as she walked out the back door a couple hours later to find Teddy kicking the football to Harry, who was in his wolf form and happily chasing the ball around and hitting it back to the young boy.  
  
“I like it when Harry is a wolf!” Teddy said happily, stopping the ball as it made its way back to him. “It makes this even more fun!”  
  
“That’s really good, Teddy, but the three of us have somewhere to be now,” Ginny said. Harry transformed at those words and gave Ginny a confused look. “Audrey has been in labor for four hours. They only just found the time to let everyone know a few minutes ago.”  
  
“Oh,” Harry said before turning to Teddy. “Come on, Ted, it seems you’re going to get another young friend to play with, though he or she will be a bit too small to play with for a little while.”  
  
“Aunt Audrey is having the baby?!” Teddy yelled excitedly, and the adults both laughed.  
  
“Yes Teddy, Aunt Audrey is finally having her baby,” Ginny told him.  
  
“Can we go watch?” he asked quickly.  
  
“If you and your godfather go get cleaned up and grab your cloaks, we can go now,” Ginny stated.  
  
“Come on, Teddy, let’s go get cleaned up quickly,” Harry said, moving to pick up his godson, who held onto the football as he was lifted onto Harry’s shoulders.  
  
“I’ll go find something to bring for him to do while we wait,” Ginny called after him.  
  
“Of course!” Harry replied, chuckling. As if he wanted to be stuck in a waiting room for hours with an energetic five-year-old who had nothing to do.  
  
Though, truthfully, that would fit into his life. Boring one moment, fun the next, crazy after that.  
  
Sometimes, he wasn’t sure which he preferred.

 


	2. Chapter One

**October 20, 2004**

“Trace?” Harry called softly as he entered her home she shared with Theo, worried as she hadn’t replied to his calls from the Floo for their planned lunch. “Trace, are you here?”  
  
“Harry,” he heard her gasp from down the hall, in the direction of the master bedroom.  
  
“Tracey!” he called as he broke into a run and ran to the room. “Is something wrong?”  
  
“Get… Theo…” she gasped as he arrived at the doorway and looked in to see her on the bed, her face contorted in pain.  
  
“Is it time?” he asked, eyes wide as he realized what was going on.  
  
“Yes,” she ground out between gritted teeth. “Get my husband, please,” she begged once the pain had calmed down.  
  
“Come on, we’re going to St. Mungo’s,” Harry told his almost-twin as he helped her stand up and walk towards where the Portkey made specifically for this event was sitting in the living room. “I’ll get Theo once we’re there.”  
  
Neither said another word as they grabbed the glass orb that reminded Harry of the prophecy greatly so that they were Portkeyed to the hospital. Once there, Harry handed her off to a healer while rushing to the Floo and calling Theo, then Ginny, who agreed to let everyone else know before heading over herself.  
  
Just after Harry finished talking to his wife, Theo rushed into the hospital and both men hastened to be with Tracey, Harry as her brother in everything but blood, Theo as her husband. She smiled at them gratefully as they arrived, though it turned into a grimace moments later as another contraction hit her, making her wince.  
  
Eventually, Ginny slipped into the room and began to help Tracey as well until Daphne and Astoria turned up, taking over for Ginny, who was eight months pregnant and needed to sit down. Harry sat next to her and held one of Tracey’s hands, Theo grasping the other as if it was his lifeline.  
  
Finally, after sixteen hours straight of keeping Tracey as calm as possible and just being there for her, she and Theo were looking down at a small bundle of blue blankets that held their son. Tracey was rubbing her hand over his light brown hair that was a good blend of her dirty-blond and his brown, falling right in between. Theo couldn’t do anything but look down at his son in awe and hug Tracey gently.  
  
“Thank you,” Tracey finally said as she looked up at Harry, Ginny, Daphne, and Astoria, all four of whom had stayed awake the entire time to help her get through the labor.  
  
The others all told her it was no problem, but Harry knew that she was waiting for his response, looking him straight in the eye. All he could do was smile tiredly and raise his right eyebrow just enough for her to see while his eyes flashed in Ginny’s direction, telling her in their form of silent twin speak that he knew she would do the same for him and Ginny when the time came. She only nodded in response, a return smile on her face.  
  
“What are you going to call him?” Harry asked Theo and Tracey softly as Astoria went to the bathroom, Daphne leaving through a doorway that wouldn’t lead to their friends so that she could find another, the midwife having left after the birth was done.  
  
Theo and Tracey shared a look before Tracey looked Harry straight in the eye, and he _knew_ what she was going to say; it was the only name Tracey would ever think to name her firstborn son, and it fit him perfectly.  
  
“Samuel,” she said softly, making it official. “Samuel Brian Nott.”  
  
“It’s fitting,” Ginny admitted as she stood up and dragged Harry with her to sit on the edge of Tracey’s bed.  
  
“You don’t mind?” Theo asked Harry in surprise, looking up at him just before Tracey gave Theo his son.  
  
“Why would I mind?” Harry asked curiously. “I think it’s brilliant.”  
  
“Because everyone knows you want to honor Sam just as much as Tracey does,” Astoria stated as she walked back into the room.  
  
“I do,” Harry admitted with a nod, “but he was Tracey’s father, the one who raised her and was there for her entire childhood. For me, he was someone to help me, to give me a new life, and then I kept changing.” Harry shook his head as Ginny took his hand. “No, Tracey is the one who should honor Samuel Davis; I’ve got my own men to honor.”  
  
James Potter, Harry thought as Samuel was passed to him and Ginny helped hold him correctly. That was what his firstborn would be named if he was a boy, he knew, and he knew that Ginny knew it as well and agreed. It was the only thing that they could do; nothing else felt right.  
  
Suddenly, Samuel opened his eyes, and Harry was looking into crystal clear blue eyes, which were looking up at him curiously. Harry just had to smile at the innocent child in his arms before passing him on to Astoria, who quickly passed Samuel to Daphne. Once Daphne was done, Samuel was passed back to his father, who stood up from the bed and headed to the door, Daphne holding it open.  
  
“Meet Samuel Brian Nott, everyone,” Theo said once he had left the room, everyone but Tracey following him.  
  
“He’s so cute,” Maya cooed as she looked down at the infant, the first to reach Theo. With a smile, Theo passed her his son, and she took him gently, knowing how to hold him without any help, though she kept him carefully above the bump in her stomach; she was about two weeks away from her due date.  
  
“I have to agree with my sister on this one, Theo,” Graham said with a smile that had a slight smirk in it as he looked from Samuel to Theo. “Congrats.”  
  
“Thanks,” Theo replied with a smile as he looked at his son.  
  
“Well done, Theo,” Blaise exclaimed as he hit his friend on the back once before throwing an arm over his shoulders. “The first of us Slytherins to have a child, with Maya and Harry next on the way.”  
  
“Shut up if you know what’s good for you, Blaise,” Ginny threatened from beside Harry, glaring slightly at Blaise with her hand moving towards her wand.  
  
“Okay, okay! No need to take out the wand! Calm down, Ginny!” Blaise said as he backed away from her slowly, hands out in front of him.  
  
“Give him a break just this once, Gin,” Harry whispered in his ear as he moved behind her and put his arms around her, both hands resting on her stomach, while he rested his chin on her shoulder. “We all know that he’s just pleased because Theo and Tracey asked him to be godfather over me.”  
  
“I still don’t understand why she chose him over you,” Ginny replied as she relaxed into Harry. “You’re considering her for godmother for our son.”  
  
“Ginny,” he sighed slightly, this having been a conversation many times before that he had just passed off and hadn’t replied to. “Yes, it would be nice to be little Samuel’s godfather, but Tracey and I… we talked it over when she was arguing with Theo over who it should be.”  
  
“You never told me that,” Ginny remarked with a little venom in her voice as she turned her head slightly to see him better.  
  
“I hadn’t wanted to at the time,” he informed her. “There will always be some things you’ll never understand about being a Slytherin, no matter how well you know me, and this is one of them.”  
  
“How so?”  
  
“We agreed that Blaise should be chosen once Tracey told me why she was so angry with Theo.” Harry sighed as he remembered Tracey Flooing over in a rage, the only word making sense being Theo and the conversation that followed it. “We all know that out of everyone we all know most are going to be asking me to be godfather.”  
  
“True,” Ginny admitted with a slight nod. It was just a fact because he had been the leader of everyone in the school by the middle of fifth year that he was the most-liked person everyone knew, even if he was a Slytherin.  
  
“If you think about it, who else, other than possibly Draco and Astoria, would make Blaise the godfather of any of our children?”  
  
“Theo and Tracey,” Ginny said as it all began to make sense to her.  
  
“Draco and Astoria are more likely to make Daphne godmother and someone else, most likely me, godfather, so Tracey and I agreed that making Blaise the godfather of her firstborn was something she should do to honor their friendship,” Harry finished. “We agreed that they would choose me for their next child, but Blaise needs this chance to shine a little bit, so we’re giving it to him.”  
  
“I think I get it now,” Ginny whispered to Harry as Samuel was passed to her again, their quiet conversation having been noticed but basically ignored.  
  
“ _I knew you would_ ,” Harry hissed to her with laughter in his voice, using Parseltongue as it was quieter and wouldn’t bother Samuel as much.  
  
“Hey, Ginny?” Draco called from over by Astoria.  
  
“Yes?” she asked as she finally looked up from Samuel.  
  
“Why isn’t any of your family here? I expected your mother to be going crazy over the idea of a new child being born, after seeing her with Bill and Fleur’s children.” Many other people were looking at Ginny curiously, but it was Harry who replied to them all.  
  
“Her mother was thinking about it, but she realized that this child wasn’t related to her in any way, so it should only be friends here for you lot,” he said. “Besides, everyone here makes up Tracey’s family now, except for the people too busy to get away or not in Britain right now. Tracey and Theo need their family, not the family of their family.”  
  
Ginny turned slightly in his arms, so he released her, and she gave him Samuel, who was again looking up at him with his blue eyes.  
  
“My mother might be over her Slytherin prejudice, way over it, but she still doesn’t feel that interrupting something like this is within her limits when it comes to her friendship with most of you,” Ginny told the group as she turned around again.  
  
“That makes sense,” Theo admitted quietly. “While we wouldn’t have minded her here, it just being all of us Slytherins — and Ginny and Natalie,” he added with a nod when they began to glare at him, the two of them being the only non-Slytherin there, “makes it that much more special to us.”  
  
Theo walked over to the room Tracey was in, and Harry followed, still holding Samuel. Tracey was smiling at both of them, and Harry returned her smile as he handed Samuel back to her.  
  
“He’s beautiful, Trace,” he whispered quietly in her ear before stepping back and letting Theo get into the bed next to his wife.  
  
“Both of you need to get some sleep,” he said once Theo was settled, the rest of the group all coming into the room quietly and finding spots where they could.  
  
“So do all of you,” Tracey retorted with a slight glare at Harry.  
  
“True,” he admitted with a slightly sheepish grin and a nod.  
  
“You all should go home and get some sleep,” Maya told the group, Graham next to her and nodding. Brandon Harper, her husband, was behind her in the same position Harry had been in with Ginny earlier. Natalie was on the other side of the room, but she was also nodding, and it was she who spoke next.  
  
“The four of us will stay with Theo and Tracey for a while,” she told the group.  
  
“We were the last to get here only a couple of hours ago, so we’re the most rested and the best to watch all three of them,” Graham said in agreement with his wife.  
  
“I know Harry will be back later, so I’ll probably come along with him,” Ginny told Tracey with a knowing smile that the blond returned.  
  
“We’ll come back later as well,” Blaise said, not even having to ask Daphne if she agreed as they all knew she would.  
  
Everyone else agreed with that and then left quietly so that the pair could finally sleep. Harry was the last to leave.  
  
He looked at the two people who were basically siblings to him along with a few others who had just left the room, and he could see the fear in their eyes and knew they wanted him to reassure them. Harry might not be the leader of the Hogwarts students anymore, but he certainly still kept that position in everyone’s hearts.  
  
“You two will be the best parents Samuel could have,” he said softly as he walked over to them. “No one is perfect, but you’ll learn along the way, ask for help when you need it, and you’ll do the best you can, and that’s what will make you better parents than most of the Slytherin Purebloods had.”  
  
Harry could tell from the way Theo relaxed that he had hit the largest problem for him right at the center. Theo hadn’t had a good father, nor a good childhood, and he didn’t want that for his son; it would make him a better father.  
  
Tracey relaxed because she realized that Harry was right. Her problem had been not being good enough, Harry knew as she had told him, and he had just repeated the words he had been saying for nine months. They would do well because they would do their best.  
  
“I’ll come back this evening,” he whispered to them as he grabbed Tracey’s hand gently before letting it go and leaving the room, only turning back long enough to see both parents caressing their son before closing their eyes and falling asleep.  
  
The two of them would be fine.

………

**November 27, 2004**  
  
Harry looked down at the little boy wrapped in a blue blanket in an exhausted Ginny’s arms. Both he and Ginny were smiling tiredly. It had been a long labor that lasted throughout the entire night, and both were ready to collapse, but it had been worth it.  
  
“What should we name him?” Ginny asked softly as she gazed down at their sleeping son.  
  
Both had decided that, as they wanted to be surprised by the gender, naming their unborn child before they had seen him just wasn’t right, so they wanted to wait until after the birth. Now it was time to decide.  
  
“James for sure,” Harry replied, having been thinking about it for the last few months. “We need to name our first son after my father.”  
  
“That’s what I thought you’d say,” Ginny admitted with a small smile as she finally looked up at her husband, “and I agree. What about his middle name, though?”  
  
Harry looked down at little James Potter and thought about what name would fit their son. There were two obvious names that would fit, but how to decide which would be chosen?  
  
“Arthur and Sirius were the two I’ve thought of,” Harry admitted softly, a tear coming to his eye as he thought about his dead godfather.  
  
“While my father would be honored to have his grandson named after him, I think he’ll just be pleased that he could get to see his grandson,” Ginny finally said after thinking about it. “For our son, we should honor those who can’t get to be here to watch him grow up, at least not with us. Sirius is the better name for our son.”  
  
“James Sirius Potter,” Harry said with a tone that finalized the decision even as he put one arm around his wife’s shoulders and put the other hand on his son’s cheek.  
  
“I love you, Gin,” he added as he put a kiss on her head, smiling down at the pair.  
  
“And I love you, Harry,” she replied as she smiled up at him, tightening her hold on their first child.

…

“Well?” Draco asked as Harry finally looked out of the room and saw that their friends and family were all waiting.  
  
“Everyone, meet James Sirius Potter,” Harry said proudly as he pushed the door open fully and allowed everyone to see the little blue bundle in his arms.  
  
Most of the females in the room, Molly Weasley among them, rushed towards Harry to fight to be the first to hold little James, but Harry shook his head sharply, and they froze. Once they were calm, he walked steadily past all of them towards his father-in-law, who was watching Harry walk towards him in shock.  
  
“James Sirius, named for two men in my life who can’t be here to watch my son grow up,” Harry said in a soft voice that carried over the silence of the room, even reaching Ginny’s ears in the next room. “It’s only fitting that the man in my life who can be here be the first to hold my son after Ginny and me.”  
  
Harry held out his son, and Arthur gently took his grandson from the young man. Both looked down as the infant woke up and deep, dark blue eyes with a tint of brown looked up at the two men, showing that it had been Ginny’s eyes that would most likely pass on to their firstborn. The little red hair on the boy’s head spoke of the Weasley hair being passed on, though it would be a few months before anyone knew if James would get Harry’s messiness.  
  
Molly walked over to her husband and took her grandson from him, and that set off the chain reaction as more of the women walked over and took turns cooing over James. Harry stepped back as they did, and felt a gentle hand on his arm. He turned to see Tracey’s blue eyes looking into his, a smile on her face.  
  
“It’s hard, isn’t it?” she asked softly as she looked first as the group around James before turning to look at Theo, who was holding their month-old son, Samuel.  
  
“Very,” he agreed just as softly, turning to also look at little Sam. “But at least this way we’re both remembering and honoring them.”  
  
“True,” Tracey admitted with a nod as she turned back to the group around James after smiling at her husband and son. “So, who do you think is going to add to the next generation?” she asked suddenly with a mischievous smile.  
  
“From the looks I’m seeing, it’s going to be a fight between Astoria and Draco and Hermione and Ron,” Harry said with a laugh. “Although… the look Daphne’s been giving Blaise has me wondering…”  
  
“I was wondering if anyone else had seen that,” Tracey admitted with a gleam in her eye that Harry was among the few to be able to read, years as almost-twins unable to leave them very much.  
  
“You mean…” Harry began, but he trailed off as he looked over at his friends and smiled slightly.  
  
“Yup,” Tracey told him with a grin. “She told me yesterday that she’s a month along; Blaise has no idea. Planned to tell him after Ginny had your son.”  
  
“So any time now?” Harry asked to clarify.  
  
“Any time now,” Tracey agreed with a nod.  
  
Just then, most of the wizards in the room made their way over to Harry. Tracey took that as her cue to leave and gave Harry a hug before heading over to Theo and taking Sam from him, gesturing in Harry’s direction so that Theo would join the men.  
  
“Congratulations, Harry!” Draco said once they all surrounded him. The others all expressed their own forms of congratulations.  
  
“Thanks you guys,” Harry replied with a smile that showed how tired he was after being up all night.  
  
“How does it feel?” Ron asked as he slapped Harry on the back.  
  
“It’s indescribable,” he told the youngest of his brothers-in-law. “Totally indescribable.”  
  
“The girls obviously love him,” Terry said, stating the obvious as he glanced over at the group of women, his wife Padma among them.  
  
“We’ve known that since Teddy and again with Victoire, you know,” Neville reminded the former-Ravenclaw with a smile.  
  
“And we’ll be reminded again and again over the next few years,” Ron sighed, a disgruntled look on his face.  
  
“Uh, mate, you probably shouldn’t be complaining,” Harry told Ron. “In fact, I wish you and Draco good luck.” He was smirking by then, and both of his friends were looking at him like he was crazy while Theo shared Harry’s smirk.  
  
“What are you talking about?” Draco demanded.  
  
“Trust me, lads, you’re going to need that luck,” Theo told them with a nod.  
  
“We both know that look on your wives’ faces, and you’re going to be getting very little sleep soon,” Harry added with a smirk that showed neither man would hate the idea.  
  
“Bloody hell,” Ron muttered as both he and Draco paled, both of them finally realizing what Theo and Harry were talking about.  
  
“They’re right you know, little brother,” Bill told Ron as he threw an arm around his brother’s shoulder. “It’s a brilliant time when your wife looks at you like that, but then it becomes a nightmare until the child is born, though it is most definitely worth it.”  
  
“Hannah had that look a few times, but as you know, we decided to wait a bit,” Neville admitted. “I have a feeling I’ll be seeing that look again soon.”  
  
“Most brilliant time you’ll ever have,” Blaise muttered quietly, only Harry catching it.  
  
It was obvious to Harry that Blaise knew Daphne wanted a child, but he wasn’t sure if his friend knew she was a month along yet or not. He would wager a guess that he didn’t know yet, but it was possible that Blaise had guessed.  
  
The others kept teasing Ron and Draco, the twins and Percy even joining in, and Harry slipped back into the room that Ginny was resting in, exhausted.  
  
“So, how is everyone?” she asked quietly as he climbed into the bed with her.  
  
“Enjoying James,” he replied with a smile as he kissed her softly.  
  
“I heard what you told my dad,” Ginny whispered into his ear while she rested her head on his shoulder.  
  
“It felt right,” Harry told her softly.  
  
“Oh, I agree with what you said. I was just going to say that it was one of the sweetest things you’ve done for my family. My father must have loved that.”  
  
“I think he did,” Harry agreed as his eyes closed; Ginny’s were already closed.  
  
Before either one could say another word, they were both asleep, their exhaustion finally overcoming them. It wasn’t for another hour before anyone found them because James was hungry.  
  
“I hate to wake them,” Tracey said quietly as she held Sam in one arm as he fed from her and her other was held tightly by Theo, who was holding James finally. “Sadly, this little one needs to be fed now.”  
  
“I know what you mean,” Theo agreed. “We were both so exhausted a month ago, and Sam didn’t even start until after we had gotten some sleep. These two were up since eight yesterday morning.”  
  
“Harry, Ginny,” Tracey whispered as she shook them both gently, having walked over to them while Theo had replied. “You need to get up; James needs feeding.”  
  
Ginny woke up first, blinking up at Tracey for a few moments before it clicked where she was and why she was being awakened. Once she had figured that out, she elbowed Harry in the ribs lightly before taking James from Theo and feeding him quickly.  
  
“The others agreed to leave you both alone; most are going home to eat, sleep, and change,” Theo told the pair. “Tracey and I agreed to stay, since we’ll be woken up every few hours by this one anyway.” He gestured to Sam, who was finally full and had fallen asleep again.  
  
“Thanks,” Harry told them with a tired smile as Ginny made Harry lie down again so that James could feed while she moved to lay down on Harry.  
  
“We know what you’re going through,” Tracey reminded them both with a smile that all four of them shared.  
  
“It’s worth it,” Ginny said softly but in a tone that said she truly believed it.  
  
“It’s most definitely worth it,” Harry and Tracey agreed together, sharing a smile as they used their twin-speak again for the first time in a few weeks.

………

**December 4, 2004**  
  
It was exactly a week after James Potter had been born, and Tracey, Theo, and Sam were all visiting Ginny, Harry, and James at the Potter’s house, exactly as they had every day since James had been born.  
  
Tracey brought up a subject that Harry and Ginny had been discussing every day when they were alone, and there still wasn’t an answer for it.  
  
“Theo and I were talking last night, and we realized that you still haven’t said who James’ godparents are,” Tracey mentioned as Ginny served tea.  
  
Harry sighed as he and Ginny shared a glance, both of them resigned to telling Tracey and Theo about the problem they were having with it. Besides, Tracey would be a good person to help them figure it out.  
  
“You remember how we decided to decide everything about James that we could after he was born,” Harry began, receiving nods in reply. “Well, now that we know what we’ve named James, it’s been giving us some problems in deciding who to choose as godparents.”  
  
Theo looked very confused while Tracey was thinking hard. Harry had said it like that so that they could figure out the problem on their own, which would make it a lot more obvious. Ginny just sat down after serving the tea, quite used to how the Slytherins worked, which was quite different from how Gryffindors did.  
  
“Oh!” Tracey cried quietly as she figured it out. “Yes, that would make it tough to choose, wouldn’t it?”  
  
“What would?” Theo asked, looking at his wife with a look that begged her to tell him.  
  
“What House were the people in at Hogwarts that James is named after?” she asked, knowing that would be enough for Theo.  
  
“James Potter and Sirius Black were in… Oh.” Theo stared as he realized what was going on. “So that’s the problem.”  
  
“You can’t decide whether to choose from Ginny’s side of the family to go along with the Gryffindor or if you should choose from Harry’s side so that he has Gryffindor names but Slytherin godparents,” Tracey said, correctly stating the problem.  
  
“And now you see why we haven’t chosen yet,” Ginny stated.  
  
“We’ve chosen who we’d want from each side, but we don’t know which to use,” Harry added.  
  
“Hermione is obviously the Gryffindor godmother, and it will be either Ron or Neville for godfather from that group,” Theo mused.  
  
“We decided Ron,” Ginny informed them. “It’s not that he’s better than Neville or anything; both would be excellent godfathers.”  
  
“It’s just…” Harry began, but he trailed off.  
  
“Ron became a good friend once he…” Tracey said knowingly, though she didn’t know how to finish her sentence.  
  
“Got his head out of his arse?” Ginny suggested with a straight face that broke down as all four of them laughed.  
  
“Completely true,” Theo said through his laughter.  
  
“And it would be the two of us from the Slytherin side, I’m willing to bet,” Tracey finished once they had all calmed down.  
  
“Of course,” Harry told her with a smile.  
  
“I guess it comes down to what you plan to name your second son,” Tracey decided.  
  
“Harry and I agreed not to decide anything until our children are born for all of them,” Ginny reminded her as Harry stared at his almost-twin in disbelief, understanding why she was saying that.  
  
“Gin, she’s saying that because, if we choose a Slytherin’s name as, let’s say, a middle name, then having the Slytherins be godparents for our second child would fit more,” he told her.  
  
“You don’t have to choose now,” Tracey said as she nodded at Harry’s statement in agreement, “but if you think you might choose a Slytherin name as part of your next child’s name, I think Theo and I would be willing to wait for your next child, right Theo?”  
  
“She’s right,” he said. “If you choose even a bad Slytherin name for your next child, I’d be willing to wait.”  
  
“Well, Gin?” Harry asked, turning to her as he already knew that this would probably happen and be the best idea, so it was all up to her.  
  
“I guess it works,” she said a bit cheekily and she smiled up at Harry.  
  
“Have you had any ideas for names of your next child, then, Harry?” Tracey asked.  
  
“I’ve got a few floating around, I guess, but I’d rather see my son before deciding anything,” he told both her and Theo.  
  
“I’m going to go and ask Ron and Hermione,” Ginny said as she stood up and headed into the other room to use the Floo, leaving the three Slytherins alone.  
  
“I think I know which name you’re going to use,” Tracey told Harry softly.  
  
“You and Ginny are probably the only two who would guess it,” he reminded her. “Keep it to yourself, because it’s probably the name we’ll use. We’re not going to make anything official until we see our son, which is the only gender it would fit with.”  
  
Tracey nodded, and Theo knew when to keep his mouth shut, so the room was silent when Ginny came back in to see Harry, Tracey, and Theo all just drinking their tea.  
  
“Both of them accepted graciously,” she told Harry and she sat down. “Hermione had that look on her face that said she knew why it had taken so long while Ron was a bit shocked that we would ask him.”  
  
“Typical Ron,” Harry and Tracey said in sync, then giggled as she realized they hadn’t even had to share a glance to act like twins again.  
  
The rest of the time Tracey, Theo, and Sam, who had been asleep in the same cot as James the whole time, spent at the Potter’s was spent happily talking about anything. As Tracey hugged Harry goodbye for the day, she whispered in his ear.  
  
“You chose well, which is nothing less than I expected. They’ll make good godparents for James, and we’ll do well with the son with Severus in his name.”  
  
With that, Tracey slipped into the Floo and carried her son back home, leaving a stunned yet smiling Harry behind, pleased by both her words and their choice in godparents for James Sirius Potter.


	3. Chapter Three

**September 29, 2005**

When Ron Weasley exited the room with a little pink bundle in his arms, an amazed and awed look on his face, not showing any sort of exhaustion he must be feeling, Harry knew that his wife’s brother was wrapped around his little girl’s finger. Of course, that was what Harry knew happened to every man with a daughter, so all he could do was grin.  
  
“This is little Rose, everyone,” Ron said with a growing smile on his face as he held his daughter gently.  
  
Around the room, the women stood up, and Harry watched as his mother-in-law scooped up the little girl and held her tightly, pressing kisses to the newborn’s face. When the others finally managed to pry Rose from her grandmother’s face, she was passed around.  
  
Everyone had spent the past four hours since they had received the Floo calls at around eleven o’clock at night attempting not to fall asleep, many just giving in and leaning on others. It wasn’t easy sitting in a hospital, waiting for a baby to be born, on little to no sleep after a long day of work, Harry busy reading through papers from the Law Department all day. Now, however, there was a newfound energy in the room as little Rose was passed around, waking everyone up for a little while until they could return home to sleep.  
  
Finally getting up, feeling as if he was going to fall down for a moment before he straightened fully due to his exhaustion, Harry made his way over to Ron. When the Gryffindor saw him heading over there, and turned and met him partway. Holding out a hand, Harry shook the man’s hand and slapped him on the back once.  
  
“Congrats, mate,” he told the new father with a grin. “Welcome to the club.”  
  
Ron laughed as he thanked Harry for the welcome. That was when the other Weasley men converged on Ron, teasing him, congratulating him, and just overall being Weasleys.  
  
Harry slipped out of the group as he watched. He knew that he was part of the Weasley family now, but it was still a bit awkward at times to be among all six of the brothers seeing as _his_ non-blood brothers were Theo, Blaise, and Draco, not the Weasleys.  
  
Moving into the shadows, Harry was surprised to hear Hermione’s voice calling him into her room until he realized that by moving into the shadows he had moved to be right by the door. Entering, he was met by a grin and Hermione patting the spot next to her on the bed.  
  
“Congratulations, Hermione,” he said quietly as he sat down. “She’s beautiful.”  
  
“You haven’t even held her,” she teased, but Harry just grinned as he shook his head.  
  
“I don’t have to,” he told her. “If she’s anything like her parents, she’ll be a heartbreaker, especially if she’s like her mother.”  
  
“Oh, _you_ ,” Hermione said with a grin as she slapped his arm lightly.  
  
“Hermione?” Ron called as he looked into the room, but he stopped as he saw Harry there.  
  
“There you are,” she said, gesturing for Ron to join them. “Come on, you know we have something to talk about. It shouldn’t take long, and then we can all sleep.”  
  
Ron entered the room, closing the door behind him. After Ron settled down next to Hermione, both of them looked up at Harry, and he suddenly knew what they were going to say.  
  
“Are you willing to be the godfather, Harry?” Hermione asked, and Harry looked at both of them. They were tired — given that Rose was born at about two in the morning, they all were — but they were also looking at him expectantly.  
  
“Was this your idea, Hermione, or because Ginny and I asked you both to be godparents for James?” he asked softly, just wanting to know.  
  
“Actually, it was mine, and I was always going to ask you, mate,” Ron said, and Harry was a bit shocked. “I know we were never the closest of friends, but you never let what I did to you in our first three years stop you from being the best of friends to me, and I can’t see anyone being a better godfather to my daughter than someone who is able to do that.”  
  
Harry was speechless as he stared at Ron. The look on the redhead’s face was enough to say that he was dead serious, and to say that shocked Harry was an understatement. He had never realized that befriending his wife’s brother had actually moved the man that much, even back when they were only fourteen and more innocent than they were now.  
  
“I would be honored,” was all that Harry could say once he regained his voice, knowing that there was no other answer to their request after hearing Ron’s reasoning.  
  
“Thanks, mate,” Ron said as he clapped Harry on the shoulder, and Hermione hugged the ex-Slytherin tightly as she thanked him.  
  
Just then, Arthur opened the door to the room, entering with Rose in his arms. His mouth fell open into an ‘O’ as he took in the sight in front of him. Harry knew that it was a bit surprising to see Ron smiling at him as Hermione hugged him tightly, but his father-in-law said nothing as he smiled at the three of them and moved to give Hermione her daughter back.  
  
Harry slid off the bed and went to head out of the room, but Ron’s voice stopped him for a moment.  
  
“Hey, mate, can you ask Ginny to come in here? We’d like to choose the best, and I think everyone knows who the best are.”  
  
“Sure thing,” Harry told his redheaded friend over his shoulder as he left the room, a lightly chuckling Arthur following.  
  
As Harry took in the room full of Gryffindors, he knew that Ron had grown up since they were eleven, and it made him proud to be the godfather of Ron’s firstborn, especially knowing what his friend had gone through to get to see her.  
  
Rose Weasley had some amazing parents.

.........

**October 4, 2005**  
  
“I feel a pattern here,” Harry commented dryly to Ginny as they sat in the waiting room of St. Mungo’s.  
  
“At least I’m not the only one,” she replied while looking around the room and trying her best to keep little James in her lap, which was getting harder as she was showing again.  
  
Around them, Tracey and Theo sat with the almost one-year-old Samuel. Samantha Zabini was with Jacob Harper, both being watched by Maya and Brandon Harper because Blaise and Daphne were with Draco and Astoria, helping Astoria. A few of Astoria’s friends from school were there, some with children and some not. Draco’s mother, Narcissa Malfoy, was in the room with her son, representing one of the few parents of the Slytherins still alive.  
  
“Do you remember who’s next?” Harry asked softly, a bit tired as it had been a long day at the Wizengamot, trying to work on passing some more bills, before he had gotten the Floo-call from Ginny about Astoria.  
  
“Susan, I believe,” she sighed, and Harry nodded as he remembered.  
  
Taking James from Ginny, he held his son and lightly rubbed his back. Slowly, the young boy calmed down enough to settle into his father’s lap. Ginny gave Harry a small smile of thanks that he returned.  
  
Just then, Draco entered the room, a blue blanket in his arms, though he was a lot more pale than usual. Luckily, Draco was also smiling, which was enough for Harry to relax as he caught the blond’s eye. Harry’s friend shook his head slightly, which Harry took to mean not right then.  
  
“Scorpius Hyperion Black,” he said loudly enough to carry to the room, and Harry had to try not to smirk as he imagined what Sirius’s reaction would be to finding out that the tradition of giving constellation names to the Blacks had continued.  
  
Tracey was the first to hold the newest life of the next generation as Draco walked over to where Harry stood with James, allowing Ginny to go and hold Scorpius.  
  
“Your mother convinced you both?” Harry asked with a grin. Draco scowled a little as he nodded, but they both knew that he and Astoria were going to cave from the moment Narcissa Malfoy née Black had asked.  
  
“She and Astoria talked over names whenever Astoria wasn’t in pain, and mother finally gave her one she agreed with,” Draco replied with a shrug. “If Astoria likes it, who am I to complain?”  
  
“Oh, you won’t be complaining, but your son will be in the future,” Harry said with a smirk.  
  
“True,” Draco admitted with a sigh. Harry looked over at his friend, whose eyes weren’t leaving his son, and saw that he was still quite pale.  
  
“What happened?” he asked softly, and Draco looked up at him, surprised before he shook his head slowly.  
  
“We could never keep anything from you, could we?” he asked rhetorically as he turned back to his son’s little bundle being passed around. “Astoria lost a lot of blood,” he finally sighed after a few moments and just before Harry was about to ask again. “They said that she might not make it if we have another child. Bloody hell, Harry, she almost didn’t make it this time,” Draco said quietly enough that no one turned, but it was obvious to Harry that he was agitated as Draco turned to face him.  
  
“She’s fine, right?” Harry asked, and the blond nodded. “Think about that and not how she almost died. Astoria is alive, she’s fine, and you’ll be sure that the chance of her almost dying won’t happen. Trust me, Draco, you need to think about the positive, not the negative. I wouldn’t be here if people hadn’t reminded me of that.”  
  
“Right, think about how she’s still alive,” Draco said as he let out a deep breath and began to calm down.  
  
“Just enjoy the fact that you have Scorpius, Draco; it’s all you can do,” Harry said with a small smile that his friend returned. “Besides, all the kids will know us and be like other kids to everyone. You’ll be Uncle Draco to a lot of these kids being born.”  
  
“True,” Draco admitted as he finally calmed down, but he still looked a bit anxious, and Harry understood why.  
  
“Go sit with Astoria,” Harry encouraged. “I’ll watch Scorpius.” Draco turned to leave, but Harry spoke again. “Don’t forget to talk to Theo and Daphne on your way, though.”  
  
“Thanks,” he called over his shoulder as he changed his direction slightly to talk to their friends about being the godparents.  
  
“What was wrong?” Ginny asked quietly as she moved to be next to Harry again, and he sighed.  
  
“Astoria had a hard time giving birth to Scorpius,” he said quietly. “They’ve been told not to have another child as she probably won’t be able to handle it. Draco needed to be reminded that she was still here, and they now have Scorpius.”  
  
“Basically, you were being the Alpha again,” Ginny teased slightly.  
  
“I’m never going to lose that title, am I?” Harry groaned quietly, remembering the title from fifth year.  
  
“Probably not,” Ginny said with a smile as she wrapped an arm around his waist and rested her hand on James’ head while looking at Narcissa holding her grandson. “Poor kid, being named Scorpius,” she muttered, and Harry chuckled softly.  
  
“Narcissa, Draco, and Astoria are never going to live that one down once he’s older,” Harry agreed, and both laughed quietly.  
  
“They’re happy,” Harry said quietly, “and that’s all that really matters.”  
  
“So true,” Ginny agreed.  
  
Harry smiled at her while placing a hand on top of the one that she had on their son as the other moved to lay on her stomach, happy to have his wife and son with another child on the way.

………

**March 27, 2006**  
  
Harry smiled as he looked down at his second son. A small tuff of black hair showed which parent he inherited that from while eyelids closing over very light blue eyes suggested that Harry’s mother’s eyes had passed on.  
  
Ginny was smiling up at him tiredly, a small smile on her face as she watched Harry hold their newest son.  
  
Of course, they both knew that they now had to name said son. Just as they had done for James, Harry and Ginny had left the naming of their second child until after he was born, though both knew that they had ideas for at least part of his name.  
  
“You’re amazing, you know that?” Harry said softly, moving to sit next to his wife on the bed. Ginny only raised her hand slowly, placing it on his arm right by their child’s head.  
  
“We have to name him,” she whispered.  
  
“I know,” Harry replied, moving to grab Ginny’s hand with the one not under their son. “I also know that we both have a name for his middle name.”  
  
“Severus,” Ginny agreed without Harry even having to say it.  
  
It had been a tacit agreement when James was born. They both knew that Severus Snape had been important to Harry, despite the man’s attitude and history with Harry’s father. Plus, without the late Slytherin, Harry wouldn’t have been given certain heads-ups about Voldemort. The man had saved countless lives, and they wished to honor him, even if most preferred to remember him as a rude man they despised.  
  
“We need a first name, though,” Harry said softly.  
  
When Ginny said nothing, he looked at her. It shocked him to see her looking so nervous with her bottom lip between her teeth as she chewed it, obviously in thought. She only ever chewed her lip when she was anxious about something, which worried him as that meant she had a name idea she suspected he might not like.  
  
“I was thinking that… we might name him after another Hogwarts Professor,” she said slowly, cautiously. That was the only sentence needed for Harry to understand her train of thought.  
  
Albus Dumbledore was the man she was thinking of.  
  
Thinking back to his Hogwarts days, Harry remembered Albus Dumbledore with mixed emotions.  
  
He respected the man for what he did in the fight against Grindelwald. Harry also respected Albus Dumbledore for his power and ability as a wizard. In fact, if Harry was being honest with himself, he respected Dumbledore for what he tried to do with the Wizarding world when it came to prejudice and even the Purebloods.  
  
Unfortunately, when he was younger, Harry had resented and even disliked Dumbledore for how he had interfered in his life without asking for permission. His life with the Dursleys until the summer after his first year of Hogwarts was brought about by Dumbledore’s decisions. Dumbledore had tried to control Harry like a pawn.  
  
In the end, it was only because Harry proved uncontrollable and fought back that made Dumbledore realize that Harry hadn’t grown up to be the perfect Golden Boy he had been hoping for, who would do his bidding. No, Harry had been a leader, an alpha male, and Harry had replaced Dumbledore as the leader of the light, at least in the minds of those in charge of the world today. Dumbledore had held power with the older generation, but Harry had the power of the younger generation.  
  
Of course, their alliance had tamed much of Harry’s feelings in the end. Harry understood Dumbledore’s wish to fight Voldemort without violence, but in the end, violence was the only way to take him out, and Dumbledore just couldn’t accept it while Harry had.  
  
The one thing that affected Harry the most was the Horcrux that his scar had been. Dumbledore had known and not told him, though it was reasonable with how Harry treated the subject of the dark objects while around the Headmaster.  
  
Still, Professor Albus Dumbledore had fought against Lord Voldemort for both wars just to try to save thousands and millions of lives, and Harry had to respect that, even if the way the old professor had done it wasn’t something he agreed with at all.  
  
If he really put all of his thoughts together, Harry realized something: While he would never like his memory of the late Headmaster, he would always respect him for what he had fought to do, and he wanted to honor the man for it.  
  
“Albus Severus Potter,” Harry said quietly. “It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”  
  
“That it does,” Ginny agreed with a smile, and Harry knew that she was both relieved and proud of his acceptance of the name for their son. Harry grinned as he wished he could at least let Tracey know before the others; she was the only one besides Ginny who truly understood his feelings for the old Headmaster, and she would be able to explain it to the others.  
  
“Go get her,” Ginny whispered, and Harry looked at her for a moment before nodding, grin still on his face. His wife certainly knew how to read him well.  
  
Giving Albus to Ginny, Harry stood up and went to the door, poking his head out and gesturing for Tracey to come in as the others sat up straight before sinking back down into their seats again. They realized that Harry needed his sister for a bit, which was understandable as he had called for her a couple of times already.  
  
“Oh!” Tracey gasped as she caught sight of the infant in Ginny’s arms after the door was closed. She then moved forward and gladly accepted the boy she knew would be her godson from Ginny. “What are you naming him?” she asked.  
  
“That’s why we called you in here,” Harry said softly, standing between his two girls. “We’d like to introduce you to your godson, Albus Severus Potter.”  
  
Tracey’s mouth fell open for a moment before she closed it and smiled a tiny bit grimly, understanding shining in her eyes. This was the reason Harry knew bringing her into the room before showing the others their son would be important; everyone else would react loudly and a few even violently as they remembered the Headmaster or Potions Master.  
  
“I can see why you chose both, though I’m willing to bet Ginny recommended Albus and then Harry agreed to it,” Tracey stated with an amused grin growing on her face.  
  
“Oh shut up,” Harry muttered, and all three of them laughed quietly.  
  
“Don’t worry you two, I’ll warn them all that they might not like your name choice, but they had better give me a chance to explain it before they yell about it,” Tracey said, more serious now.  
  
“Thanks, Trace,” Harry sighed in relief, and Ginny nodded in agreement.  
  
“Hey, it’s what I do,” she said with a grin, and Harry just shook his head as he accepted his son back. “By the way, I’ll be honored to be the godmother of a boy named Albus Severus. There’s no greater honor, in my opinion, and I don’t think Theo will complain, even if he isn’t as enthusiastic.”  
  
Harry just grinned as she left the room.  
  
“We’ll be fine,” Ginny said as he looked at Albus, and Harry knew that she was right.

………

**September 14, 2006**  
  
Harry walked along the path in Hyde Park in the middle of London. Beside him was Tracey, and she was smiling a little.  
  
“It’s been way too long since we’ve had the chance to do this,” he commented.  
  
The past couple of years had been crazy with births taking place nearly every month among friends and family. It had been hard for either of them to get away from the craziness, but Ginny and Theo had told them both to leave their homes and not come back until dinner time that morning after breakfast. They were to spend the day together, and it was relaxing to finally get the chance to do it, as they hadn’t really been alone together except in a one of their homes, and it wasn’t the same.  
  
“Yeah, but we’ve all been busy with our children. How many nieces and nephews do you and Ginny have now?” Tracey replied, amusement in her tone as she brought up the Weasley grandchildren, who had been coming like there was no tomorrow.  
  
“Six nieces and only the one nephew, but those girls are a handful!” Harry said, exaggerating it with a smile that made Tracey laugh in amusement.  
  
“That means that between all of us we have sixteen kids, if you include Teddy,” Tracey commented as she calmed down and did the math mentally.  
  
“And nine of them have Weasley blood in them. Merlin help us all!” Harry groaned, including his two boys in the number as Ginny was most certainly still a Weasley, even with her last name now being Potter.  
  
“If there are too many more of them, we’ll cover about ten years at Hogwarts with at least one or two Weasleys there.”  
  
Tracey and Harry sat down on the ground by a pond in the middle of the park. It was a quiet, cool day in early September, and most of the Muggles’ children were in school, so there were only adults moving past them.  
  
“Trace, we’re doing that _already_ ,” Harry stated. “No, what McGonagall should be worried about is the fact that we’re going to be putting basically our entire next generation at Hogwarts all starting within probably seven years of each other, and that’s not counting Teddy and Victoire to start it all off.”  
  
“Are you sure she hasn’t retired yet?” Tracey asked innocently.  
  
“Not yet, but I’m not sure how much longer she’ll be at Hogwarts when she sees the list of students going to Hogwarts starting in 2015 — or 2009, if you’re thinking of Teddy. Once she sees that, Hogwarts will probably need a new Headmistress,” Harry told Tracey with a grin that made her giggle.  
  
“So, who’s had which kids lately?” Tracey asked as she watched some ducks swim around in the pond. Harry knew that everyone knew he was the one to ask about this as he was the center of the group even after all these years.  
  
“Bill and Fleur have Victoire and Dominique,” Harry began, ticking them off on his fingers. “Percy and Audrey have Molly and Lucy. George and Angelina have Fred and now Roxanne.” They both knew that she was the newest addition to the group. “Brandon and Maya have Jacob while Susan and Justin have Hannah. Terry and Padma have their son Gary. We both know about Samantha for Blaise and Daphne as well as Rose for Ron and Hermione, and Scorpius for Draco and Astoria.”  
  
“Plus James and Albus for you, and Samuel for me,” Tracey concluded with a smile. “Thanks for the catch up.”  
  
Harry and Tracey fell silent again. The wind was blowing in a nice breeze that was keeping them cool as they just relaxed. They had had lunch before coming here, so neither was hungry.  
  
“Who do you think will have the next child?” Tracey asked suddenly, and Harry looked up at her curiously, but she was staring out at the pond and wouldn’t turn to look at him.  
  
“You mean besides Natalie, right?” he asked to be sure, for Natalie was due in January with her firstborn.  
  
“Yes, besides Natalie,” Tracey agreed, not turning at all.  
  
Harry pretended to be thinking about it, but he was really trying to figure out Tracey. While they couldn’t read one another as well as they once had, their ability to figure the other out and act like twins was still there and would probably always be. It took him a few minutes, but he understood why she was asking.  
  
“You’re pregnant again, aren’t you?” he asked with a smile beginning to grow on his face.  
  
“Yes,” Tracey said with a nod as she turned to face Harry, and a smile appeared on her face as he reached out to hug her. “I’m due in April.”  
  
“This is wonderful, Trace!” Harry exclaimed. “Does anyone else know?”  
  
“Just Theo; we only found out two days ago,” Tracey told him as she shook her head.  
  
“Is that why he was pushing for us to spend a day together?” Harry asked in amusement, and Tracey laughed a bit as they let go finally.  
  
“No, he’s been pushing for me to do this for a while now, but we’ve both been busy,” she admitted. “I’m pretty sure he and Ginny have been talking for about a week now about this, and finding out I was pregnant again made him tell her we needed a day together; he knew I wanted you to be the first to know besides us.”  
  
“This is wonderful,” Harry said, still smiling.  
  
“It is,” Tracey agreed. “Plus, you’ll be getting your godson or goddaughter now,” she added with a smirk. Harry blinked.  
  
“I didn’t even realize that,” he said, a bit surprised as he realized it was true. “It’ll be great,” he added as a smile began to grow.  
  
“Of course you’d like hearing about that,” Tracey laughed with a look in her blue eyes that he had missed seeing.  
  
“It’s me, Trace,” Harry reminded her with a laugh.  
  
“I know; that’s why I said it,” she retorted with a smile.  
  
Harry reached forward and splashed her with some water from the pond, making her squeal before she launched some back at him, hitting him right in the face and soaking his glasses.  
  
“So not fair!” he complained as the water made it so that his vision was almost as bad as it was when he didn’t have his glasses on.  
  
“You started it,” she reminded him, and he growled slightly before reaching out and tickling her before Tracey could do anything about it.  
  
Around them, Harry knew some people were watching them, but he didn’t really care as he was spending time with the woman who was basically his sister and having fun with her. It had been way too long since they had relaxed enough to act younger again with each other.  
  
Tickling Tracey, Harry thought about the number of children being born and how Tracey was pregnant. He thought about how they all had their own lives, jobs, homes, and families now. Harry realized that they all truly had moved on from their times at Hogwarts and the war as he acted as he once had way back then.  
  
“Life really is just moving along,” he whispered under his breath, and he made Tracey squeal by hitting a sensitive spot. “And it’s an amazing life to live.”

………

**November 1, 2007**  
  
Dark blue eyes blinked sleepily at Harry as he looked down at the redheaded girl in his wife’s arms.  
  
“She’s going to have you wrapped around her finger easily,” Ginny commented in amusement. Harry didn’t dignify her with a response, knowing their daughter already did.  
  
“Lily Potter,” he said softly, lightly laying his hand on her head.  
  
“What’s her middle name?” Ginny asked quietly.  
  
“I don’t know,” Harry admitted, “but who are the godparents?”  
  
“How do you think Graham and Natalie would feel about having a little girl close to their Stephen as he grows up?” Ginny suggested with a tired but sly smile on her lips.  
  
“They’re a good choice,” Harry agreed, still looking at his daughter, whose eyes had closed as she fell asleep. “We still need a middle name, though.”  
  
Silence fell over the room.  
  
Harry tried to think of a name, but none were forthcoming. Nothing he could think of fit with Lily, nor did any names that might go with it mean anything to him.  
  
“Well, could we honor a friend still alive but overlooked quite often?” Ginny asked, and Harry looked at her curiously. “Luna. Lily Luna Potter.”  
  
Harry blinked in surprise before really thinking about it. Ginny wasn’t wrong in what she said as Luna, out of all his friends, really was the most overlooked, both during Hogwarts and after. It was time that someone did something to show that they cared about her.  
  
“Lily Luna Potter it is,” he decided aloud with a grin that Ginny returned.  
  
A good name that honored two strong and very different women.

 


	4. Chapter Four

**December 24, 2010**

“You can’t catch me!”  
  
“Yes, I can!”  
  
Albus Potter chased after his older brother James, Scorpius Black joining Albus moments later. Samuel Nott barely jumped out of James’ way in time as they charged past him. Rose Weasley grabbed Lily Luna Potter and pulled her in the direction of the adults and away from the crazy boys running around behind the house in the snow.  
  
“Albus! James! Scorpius! Stop right now!”  
  
All three boys skidded to a halt, reminding the Muggle-borns of one of those cartoon characters suddenly stopping. James led the younger boys over to the adults, all of them walking slowly.  
  
“What have I told you about running around and almost hitting others?” Harry demanded.  
  
“Not to do it,” they all said as one, their tones showing that they were chastised.  
  
“Then why did you almost hit both Samuel and Lily just now?”  
  
“Because we weren’t watching where we were going,” Albus said for the trio, as was normal.  
  
“Just be more careful, please, boys,” Harry sighed after watching them squirm for a minute.  
  
After assuring Harry that they would be more careful, the three boys ran over to where more of the eldest children had gathered for a snowball fight.  
  
Harry watched as the girls and boys split up into teams by gender, Teddy and Victoire as leaders for each side. Soon enough, the children old enough to make and throw snowballs were laughing and running around, enjoying the snow.  
  
“They’re having fun,” Draco commented dryly as he walked over to Harry. Harry knew that if he turned to look at his friend, he would see a smile on the blond’s face.  
  
“They most certainly are,” Harry replied with a nod and a small smile gracing his lips.  
  
“Tracey and Ginny want us inside,” Draco said after a moment, finally telling Harry why he was out there. “Some sort of argument going on with your mother-in-law that they need you for.”  
  
“Again?” Harry groaned. Molly Weasley had been fighting for the last month to have Christmas at the Burrow instead of at Marauder Manor. It didn’t matter to her that Marauder Manor was built for the purpose of a crowd as large as this one was — she wanted Christmas at her home.  
  
“We’d better go deal with this,” Harry sighed sadly. He turned around and walked into his home, not bothering to do anything besides kick the snow off his shoes at the door before walking towards the kitchen, where he could hear raised voices.  
  
“No, Mum, we already agreed to have it here,” Ginny was saying angrily when Harry walked in, her face turning red. “Everyone is here, we have the room, and it’s all ready!”  
  
Harry walked over to his wife and stood behind her, his arms around her waist. She leaned back into him ever-so-slightly, and he knew that she had relaxed just a little.  
  
“Molly,” he said in a calm voice, trying to be the voice of reason between the two fiery women, as he could tell Tracey hadn’t succeeded by the look on her face as well as the fact that both women were still arguing. “Marauder Manor is the best place to have such a large party. I understand that you’d rather it be at the Burrow, but this is a much larger party than the last few years, and the Burrow can’t hold us all. Our home has the most space of them all, so it only makes sense that we’d host the party this year.”  
  
Tracey caught his eye and flashed him a relieved smile and a small nod to let him know that she agreed with him, and thought that he had finally gotten through to Molly. Looking at the Weasley matriarch, Harry could tell that they had won, but she was upset by it. This confused him until he caught something in her eyes that suddenly made it all click: She was upset because she wanted to have a party at the Burrow and they were denying her the opportunity.  
  
“You know, Molly,” Harry started, startling the three women in the room as well as Draco, who was leaning against the doorway, “we could have a New Year’s party for anyone with the last name Weasley — and the Potters, of course.”  
  
Harry could tell by the look on Molly’s face that he had suggested the right thing.

…

**December 25, 2010**

Albus Severus Potter woke up with a start when the alarm charmed to be heard only by him went off at six in the morning. He smiled as he remembered that it was Christmas morning, and there were stockings and gifts waiting in the living room of Potter Manor.

Slipping out of bed, Albus pulled on his dressing gown and a pair of socks, to keep his feet warm as he didn’t want to wear slippers, before he walked quietly across his room. His best friend Scorpius had bunked in his room, which was a common occurrence.

Albus put a hand on his friend’s mouth while shaking him awake with the other. Once Scorpius was awake and had realized what was going on, Albus let go of the blond boy and handed him his dressing gown, which was received with a grateful smile.

Both boys left the room and saw Lily and Hope leave the room across the hall along with Miriam. Further down the hall, Rose, Hugo, Matthew, Daniel, Stephen, Louis, Daniella, Hannah, Christopher, and Roxanne were all leaving their rooms. Not a single person made a sound as they all slipped down the stairs behind Albus, who was the oldest child from the house among them all.

When they got downstairs, Albus led the group of young children, all ranging from the age of one-and-a-half to five, through the empty kitchen, into the dining room, and finally to the living room. Once in the room, all of the kids split up and found seats on the couches and floor with Albus reminding them to keep quiet or the others would come downstairs.

Finally, Albus had a chance to look around the living room again.

A large Christmas tree took up a corner of the room, and it was overflowing with gifts. Along the opposite wall from the tree were two lines of stockings, all of them stuffed with little gifts. The rest of the room had red and green tinsel along with the paper chains that he and his brother and sister had made the week before with their parents.

Albus gestured for Rose and Scorpius to join him at the wall of stockings to help him find each stocking per child in the room. It was a tradition in most of their houses for the kids to get up at six in the morning and open stockings before going and waking up the adults. This year Albus, Rose, and Scorpius had agreed to try and beat the older kids down there, though they had included the younger kids in their plans to be fair.

Just as the three five-year-olds sat down to look in their stockings along with the others, James, Samuel, Fred, Gary, Jacob, Dominique, Lucy, Molly, Samantha, Victoire, and Teddy all walked into before stopping short at the sight.

Albus smiled as he watched Lily help Miriam, Daniella help Matthew, and Christopher help Hope in pulling out the stuff in their stockings. All of them were quiet as they showed their pleasure at the small gifts.

He turned to his brother and the others with a smile before gesturing to a couple of unoccupied couches, upon which he, Rose, and Scorpius had left them their stockings, the adults’ still on the wall. The older kids nodded their thanks and sat down.

Looking in his own stocking, Albus pulled out a container of long-lasting, color changing flow bubbles, some of his uncles’ joke products, some Honeydukes sweets, a small, stuffed dragon, and an orange.

Everyone else received the same things except for the bubbles, though a few found extra things as well. James had been given balloons instead of bubbles, Lily pulled out hair things, Scorpius got a bunch of rubber snakes, Rose found a ball that changed color each throw, and so on and so forth, went through Albus’s mind as he turned back to his stuff after checking out their stockings.

Instead of going to wake up the adults, Albus and the others shared their new toys and ate some of the sweets. James and Fred were pranking people with their new supplies while Teddy helped Rose prank them back to make them stop; it didn’t hurt that she had had Scorpius steal their supplies while she pranked them.

Their fun was frozen in place as a loud cough was heard from the doorway. Everyone turned, and Albus saw his mother standing in the doorway, leaning against it and watching them.

“M-morning, Mum,” James stammered, obviously afraid of what she was thinking, like Albus was.

“You all seem to be having fun,” Mum said calmly, and Albus wasn’t sure whether to relax or to be more afraid.

“Rose’s ball and Al’s bu-les are fun, Mummy!” Lily said happily as she rushed over to hug Mum’s legs.

“Is that so, Lily?” Mum asked, a laugh in her voice, which meant James and he were able to relax.

“Oh yes! Rose threwing it to me and Teddy ‘elped threw it back! Al was blowing lots of bu’les for me to see, and they was p’etty!” Lily’s two-year-old speech brought a smile to Albus’s lips, knowing Mum wouldn’t be angry.

“Why don’t you, Teddy, and Victoire go wake up Grandmum Weasley while the others wake up their parents?” Mum asked Lily.

“Okay!” she cried happily before running to the two mentioned and dragging them from the room.

“James, Albus, Rose, and Scorpius, stay behind; the rest of you can go wake up your parents,” Mum said once Lily was gone, and the others left the four mentioned alone.

“Why did you tell us to stay, Aunt Ginny?” Rose asked. “We didn’t do anything we weren’t allowed to.”

“Because I’m wondering which of you four was in charge of all the little ones, since it wasn’t Teddy or Victoire from their faces,” Mum told Rose before giving Albus and James a hard look, as if she thought it was one of them.

“I came downstairs to find Al in charge!” James said suddenly, and Albus realized his brother wanted him to trouble.

“Was he?” Mum asked Rose and Scorpius, and they nodded under her Do-Not-Lie look. “You three can go.”

All three hurried from the room, though James gave Albus a smug look, and the other two shared worried looks.

Mum then gestured to one of the couches not covered with stuff and sat down next to Albus on it. He was worried he was going to be punished, but then Mum put a hand on his shoulder and smiled at him, making him relax.

“You did a good job today, Al,” she said. “All of you were quiet enough to let us sleep until seven, you kept an eye on the youngest ones, and everyone was distracted and having fun.” Mum sighed slightly. “You’re reminding me of your father in more ways than just looks right now, Al.”

“I am?” he asked, surprised.

“Oh, yes,” Mum said with a small smile as she looked down at him. “You father would always find ways to bring even the most energetic students to a halt at Hogwarts, sort of how you did with the younger ones this morning.”

Albus was feeling proud of himself at his mother’s words. Being like his father was something he would never complain about as his father was an amazing person he loved and admired immensely. Even at age five, Albus knew he would take any comments like this one as if they were precious.

He hugged Mum tightly, and she held him gently.

“Gin, Al, your Grandmum Weasley wants you in the dining room for breakfast before we adults open our stockings and everyone opens gifts,” the voice of Albus’s father said from the doorway, and Albus pulled himself from his Mum’s arms to turn and see his father watching them in amusement.

“Okay!” he said happily as he slipped off the couch and into the hall.

Albus rushed just past the corner in the hall before slipping back and watching as his father walked into the living room. Once he was in the room, Albus walked over towards the doorway, glancing in long enough to see that his father had his mother in his arms before pulling his head out of the entrance to listen.

“He’s becoming more and more like you every day,” Mum said quietly.

“Is he?” Dad asked with some amusement.

“He is, and you know it. I’m pretty sure we can both agree where at least some of our children are going to be Sorted.”

“Possibly, but they’ve got two completely different Houses to choose from if they’re trying to follow in their parents’ footsteps,” Dad reminded Mum, and Albus knew he was talking about how he had been a Slytherin and his Mum a Gryffindor.

“True, but we both know James is too much like my family to be nothing but a Gryffindor. Al, though… If I had to say who he was more like, it would be you since I first met you, Draco since after fourth year, and the others after they got to know me and after my first year. He’s going to be a Slytherin, and he’s going to be a leader. I’m betting there will be a competition for leader of leaders in his year, what with Al, Scorpius, and Rose all in it together.”

“When you put it like that…” Dad said slowly, and Albus knew he was smiling. “I guess I have to agree with you that we do know where our sons will be going. Personally, I think it fits that one son goes to each of our Houses.”

“Come on,” Mum said after a moment or two of silence. “You mentioned going to get food from Mum. We should get going before she sends someone else after us.”

Albus rushed to the dining room, the conversation his parents had had flashing through his mind. In a way, he wasn’t upset by their words. They actually made him quite proud.

As he joined his cousins and friends, who were basically cousins in his mind, Albus smiled as he realized he really was like his father in more ways than just looks.

…

Harry smiled as most of the women surrounded Alicia and Fred, each of whom was holding an infant boy. Erik George and Jonathan Fred Weasley were born just six days before, and they were as identical as their namesakes. It was going to drive them all up the wall to have to deal with another set of twins, but they would survive.

Alicia had told Fred that she wanted to play Quidditch for a while before having a family. He had agreed with her, so he had spent a few years being the friendly uncle until Alicia had retired the year before, which was when everyone knew she would be pregnant sometime in the near future.

“Mummy, when are we going to open presents?” Scorpius asked Astoria, and that drew the attention of the other adults in the room to the fact that the children had been quite patient and well behaved this morning.

“I think we can go into the living room and look for some of those presents now, don’t you all?” Astoria told her son, looking up and smiling at the others before taking Scorpius’s hand and leading him into the living room, the other children following quickly.

“We really have made them wait quite a long time, especially for kids this young,” Theo commented as he fell into step beside Harry, and Harry chuckled in response.

Once in the living room, the adults took over the couches, Ginny sitting next to Harry. Children sat on the floor by their parents, Teddy joining the Potters over on their couch and sitting next to Harry.

It amused Harry to no end as he watched Albus, Rose, and Scorpius take control of handing out the gifts, James helping with the larger ones. Harry knew that the three five-year-olds could read the names just fine, but he also knew they had been searching for the names of everyone so that they could be sure to get it right.

“They’ve certainly taken over as leaders of the kids,” Ginny commented in his ear, and Harry nodded in agreement.

“It seems Teddy, Victoire, and James are quite willing to let them be in charge this Christmas, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing as we know that those three are actually quite mature for five-year-olds,” Harry replied. “They can be crazy little kids when they need to be, and they’ll act twice their age when they think they need to. Kind of scary, that.”

“Like you can really comment,” Ginny reminded him dryly, and he stifled a chuckle as he realized she was alluding to how he had changed Hogwarts at only the age of eleven.

“True, true,” he finally said as Albus came and brought them both a few gifts from the pile, Scorpius following with a couple more as well as a few for Teddy.

When all the gifts had been passed out, most of the gifts were opened and appreciated greatly. The kids were already playing with some of theirs.

Harry appreciated his gifts for sure, but the best gift of all this Christmas wasn’t the gifts or how well behaved the kids were. No, it was having everyone here around him, enjoying themselves like a family should.


	5. Chapter Five

**July 13, 2015**

Albus Severus Potter had just walked out the Floo at the Burrow when someone collided with him, sending him backward into his father, who laughed and caught them both.  
  
“ROSE!” Albus yelled in annoyance as he recognized his cousin that was hanging off of him. “Can you get off of me, please?”  
  
“Sorry, Al!” she said, jumping back as she realized what she had done. “It’s been two weeks since I last saw you, though!”  
  
“You know Mum and Dad took us to America for a holiday,” Albus sighed, grasping her hand and pulling her away from the Floo and towards a corner of the living room where their friend Scorpius was waiting for them.  
  
“Yes, I know, but it feels like it’s been forever,” Rose groaned. “I only had Hugo to keep me distracted as Scorpius over here was dragged to France to see some relatives of his.”  
  
“Sorry, Rose, Dad didn’t know about the trip until the night before we left,” Scorpius said with a shrug as he moved to clap Albus on the shoulder. “How was your trip, Al?”  
  
“Not bad,” Albus replied with his own shrug. “We saw the Statue of Liberty and then went to Washington DC and saw the Smithsonian. Spent two days just going through the various museums and _still_ didn’t see them all. Mum and Dad were talking about going back another time soon to see the rest.”  
  
“At least you had fun,” Scorpius muttered. “I was forced to stay in the same house for two weeks with people I don’t like because they’re related to Dad’s father. I would have preferred to stay with Rose the whole time.”  
  
Albus whistled in amazement. “That’s saying something!” Rose hit him on the arm, but Scorpius knew what he meant; Rose was great and all, but she could get to be a bit much at times. They needed breaks from her at times.  
  
“Lucy is going to be so annoying today,” Albus commented, looking around the living room at his various cousins and friends, Lucy at the center of the group of girls in the middle of the room.  
  
“She’s already been annoying,” Rose groaned. “She got her Hogwarts letter this morning and wouldn’t stop showing it off by shoving it in everyone’s faces.”  
  
“That’s not so bad if you can avoid her,” Albus whispered in Scorpius’ ear. “I’m going to be so much worse to Rose when I get my letter in two years.”  
  
“Find a wand and use magic to annoy her?” Scorpius whispered back, and they shared small smirks.  
  
“Stop planning how you’re going to annoy me in two years and figure out how to stop Lucy from annoying _us_ right _now_!” Rose hissed at the two boys, who looked up to see that Lucy was headed in their direction, a sheet of parchment in hand.  
  
“Got your pouch, Scorp?” Albus asked, reaching to move the pouch that his two prankster uncles had given him for his sixth birthday into view along his belt as Scorpius smirked and did the same. “Excellent. Let’s use Plan F.”  
  
Grinning mischievously, they both reached into the pouches and pulled out small balls the size of a marble. Pulling Rose down to the ground with them, they pretended to be looking at a sheet of blank parchment she had with great interest. As they sat there, both boys rolled their marbles in different directions away from them after twisting the top half of them to the right, being sure not to look up as they did so.  
  
Five seconds later a “ _BOOM!_ ” was heard throughout the room as a bunch of fireworks went off, the magic in them making them turn away from anything so that they hit nothing.  
  
It had the desired effect of distracting Lucy, though both boys had to quickly move the pouches so that they were hidden beneath the backs of their shirts. Unfortunately, it also drew the parents into the room, and they were looking at all the children carefully, trying to figure out who had done it.  
  
Albus and Scorpius had masks on their faces, making it look as if they were just as shocked as the others, and they had taught Rose how to do one well enough that it would trick most of the adults. She had had a tougher time learning it than the boys for some reason, but Albus was always grateful that she had worked so hard at it whenever they did pranks; otherwise, she would always give them away.  
  
“Okay, who did this?” Albus’ Dad asked the room at large while Uncle Fred used his wand to cancel the fireworks and Vanish the little balls they had come in.  
  
No one knew who had done it, and the three who did weren’t going to give themselves up, so there was no reply. Albus’ father looked around at the faces again, looking at the pranksters in the room the most: Albus’ brother James, his sister Lily, his cousins Erik, Jonathan, Fred, Roxanne, Dominique, and Louis, and of course, Albus and his two best friends. Finally his father sighed and shook his head, looking at Albus’ mother.  
  
“Sorry, Gin, but their masks are too good today,” he said, and Albus knew that they had gotten away with it. The only others who could ever figure out who did a prank were his uncles, and they never told unless the prank had really bad consequences.  
  
“No more pranks today, or you’re all going to be punished!” Albus’ Grandmum told them all fiercely, waving a wooden spoon around at them all. After that, the adults left the room again.  
  
“Next time, we just run or tell her to leave,” Albus whispered to Scorpius and Rose, who nodded slightly. “Now, cards anyone?” Albus reached into his pocket and pulled out a deck of Muggle cards.  
  
“Sure,” Rose and Scorpius replied together, and Albus began to shuffle the cards while his friends decided on a game to play.

…

“Now, who was it _really_ this time?” Ginny asked Harry as the adults all settled down in the kitchen.

“Albus and Scorpius for sure, though I have a feeling Rose actually asked them to do it this time,” Harry informed the group. “Lucy was halfway to them with her Hogwarts letter in hand when we saw them, and their faces were just a bit too fixed, though I almost didn’t catch it.”

“By the time they’re at Hogwarts, they’ll have their masks perfect,” Draco commented with a smirk.

“They’ll need them against McGonagall,” George stated, ignoring the glare his mother was sending his way.

“Yeah, she’s really good at reading masks and figuring out if they’re real or not, which makes pulling off a prank quite hard,” Fred agreed with a serious nod.

Harry snorted, remembering the pranks he, Tracey, and Ginny had managed to pull off with no one the wiser.

“That’s just because you made it too obvious,” Tracey said. “We got away with most of our pranks because we know when and where to pull them and how to make them succeed when we had an alibi.”

“And you _still_ haven’t taught us how you did it!” the twins whined in sync, making their wives hit them upside the head while rolling their eyes.

“Trade secret,” Harry, Ginny, and Tracey said together almost instantly.

“Enough prank talk,” Molly admonished. “It’s no wonder your children are all pranksters if this is how you act around them!”

“Molly, you know as well as the rest of us that this was inevitable with the aunts, uncles, and parents these kids have,” Hermione sighed, gesturing to the adults around her. “We should be thankful the twins provide them with enough _safe_ supplies that they don’t try to make their own like they did as teenagers. _That_ would be an instant disaster.”

“Quite true, Hermione,” Molly sighed, going back to her cooking. “Now, boys, please go set up the tables in the yard and set the tables. Be sure to have a separate table for the kids, though don’t put it too far away from ours or we’ll have problems.”

“Yes, Mum,” the Weasley boys said instantly, and all of the men left the room, the Weasleys in front and Harry and Draco behind them.

“Why are you and Draco here again, Astoria?” Ginny had to ask, not having expected them. “I’m not upset by it, but I wasn’t expecting it as it was a Weasley party.”

“Hermione Floo called Molly and me last night saying that Rose missed both of her best friends and wanted us to come so that she could see both Scorpius and Albus today,” Astoria said.

“Two weeks with only Hugo to talk and play with was a bit too much for her when she sees her friends almost daily,” Hermione elaborated. “It didn’t help that she hadn’t expected Scorpius to be away at the same time as Albus given the last-minuteness of their trip to France.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” Ginny said with a nod as she stood. “Mum, let me help you with the cooking.”

“Thanks so much, dear,” Molly said as Ginny pulled out her wand and began preparing ingredients alongside her mother, the other women talking behind them.

…

Outside in the yard, the children were all watching at their uncles and fathers used the five different tables to have a duel in the air, banging them together while laughing. It was a tradition that the women didn’t bother trying to stop anymore after years of trying, especially when the children enjoyed the show so much.

“Come on, Dad, you can win!” Albus called while pumping his fist into the air as his father’s table bashed into Uncle Ron’s, breaking off a leg. “Yeah! Go Dad!”

Around Albus, the other children were cheering on their fathers as well, Scorpius cheering on Albus’ father as Uncle Draco wasn’t participating. Uncle Draco was the normal judge for this each time they had him over and the game took place.

Uncle Fred took off one of Uncle George’s legs, losing one of his own in the process. Uncle Bill then came in and ripped off two of Uncle Ron’s legs at once, leaving him with only a single leg left.

“Uncle Ron is going to lose again,” Albus told Rose with a smirk on his face, and she could only shake her head. Uncle Ron _never_ won at this, though it was always amusing to see who knocked the most legs off of his table and who did it fastest.

Uncle Fred took of Uncle Ron’s final leg, and Uncle Draco made him bring the table out of the fight. As Uncle Ron fixed the table and began to set it, Albus’ Dad suddenly sent his table shooting up from underneath Uncle Bill’s table, breaking off all four legs at once.

“YEAH! GO DAD!” Albus cheered as Uncle Bill lowered his table.

It was Uncles Fred and George teaming up against his father, who just made his table spin and fly at theirs, ripping off a leg from each before their tables moved out of the way. Soon enough, Albus’ Dad had the legs off of both their tables and was named victor yet again. Only once in a while did he not win in this game, though Albus didn’t know why his Uncles said it was inevitable and always seemed to bet on who lasted the longest against his father or how long it took his father to win. It was probably one of those things that had to do with their time at Hogwarts that they never explained, only hinted at.

Just as the tables were set and the children taking their places at their own table next to the adults’, Albus’ Mum, Grandmum, and Aunts brought out the food, placing the platters along the tables for them to get their own food from.

Mouth soon full of potatoes, Albus tuned out Lucy’s talk about what she would be doing at Hogwarts that year when she finally arrived there, already tired of it after only about a minute. She had been doing that for weeks, and it didn’t help that he still had two more years to go before he could go to the famous castle that held so many secrets and possibilities.

“Hey, Teddy?” Albus asked the older boy across from him who was basically his eldest brother even if they weren’t related. Teddy looked up. “Is Hogwarts really as amazing as they make it seem like?” Teddy smiled and swallowed his bite of roasted chicken before speaking.

“Learning magic can be very fun and cool, though they’re still lessons despite what people say.” Here, Teddy made a slight face before continuing. “The castle itself is a mystery with all its secret passages and the various tricks that have been there for years to learn. You also hear stories of years passed in the Common Rooms, one of the most told stories about how the Houses used to be enemies all the time.”

“What’s that story?” Albus asked curiously, his fork of roast just inches from his mouth as he, Rose, and Scorpius listened to the seventeen-year-old who was about to go into his final year of Hogwarts. A quick glance showed Albus that a few others at the table were listening as well.

“You remember how I showed you my Journal during Christmas of my first year and how you’ve seen it over the years?” Teddy asked, and the three nodded as he ate a bit more dinner before continuing. “Well, there are stories told about the time _before_ the Journals and The Den.”

“What’s The Den?” Scorpius asked as Teddy paused again to eat a bit more, more people listening in along the table.

“Remember the rooms I told you about? The ones where people can practice spells, study, play games, eat snacks, and just hang out no matter what House or age?” All three nodded. “They’re called The Den.”

“Ah,” all three nine-year-olds said in understanding.

“It turns out The Den isn’t as old as it looks,” Teddy said. “I asked Professor McGonagall about it once, and she told me the castle and those who created it decided it would be better for the rooms to look older so that new students didn’t realize it wasn’t a very old idea as new generations came to Hogwarts.” Teddy looked up at the adults’ table cautiously, and Albus turned around to see they were still talking before looking back at Teddy to see him leaning in a bit.

“McGonagall told me that it was _students_ who came up with, supplied, and charmed quite a bit of The Den, the teachers only forming the rooms themselves,” he said in a quieter voice that didn’t travel very far, especially with all the talking going on around them. “She said it was just _three_ students, and they weren’t even seventh years at the time!”

“Really?” Rose gasped. “From what you’ve said, those rooms are full of impressive charm work!”

“They are!” Teddy agreed with a nod as he sat back. “I thought for sure the professors made them _ages_ ago, but no, McGonagall told me that she remembered it happening. She and a few other professors worked together to make the rooms the right sizes that the students had asked, adding only a few charms to mainly the practice rooms. Everything else done in The Den was by three students, who even kept it from their friends.”

“Wow,” all three gasped.

“But I got off topic,” Teddy said. “What I was going to tell you about were the stories about the time _before_ The Den and the Journals. It’s been told that there was a time when people rarely sought friends outside of their own Houses, and when they did, they _never_ talked to the Slytherins! Slytherins were viewed as Dark Wizards at age eleven the moment they were Sorted there, no thought at all that they were just kids.”

“But — but, our parents talk about how all of the students from all of the Houses are treated equally!” Rose exclaimed, obviously unable to believe it.

“That’s how it is _now_ , but from what I heard, during the first war against Voldemort, the Death Eaters coming from Slytherin all the time made the other three Houses turn against them even more than they had before,” Teddy said, lowering his voice again. Albus and his friends were eating almost automatically as they listened, Teddy pausing now and again to eat and drink.

“Then the very first leader of leaders came along and changed things. From what I’ve heard, he was a first year Slytherin who didn’t like the prejudice that the other Houses automatically gave him, so he started talking to his classmates from the other Houses, showing them that he wasn’t a Dark Wizard but an eleven-year-old just like them.

“Slowly, as the years went by, he converted the other years, mainly the younger years, to his ideas, changing Hogwarts every single year. The older students went to him and joined the group. Somewhere in this are the Journals, connecting the students even more than before. As more and more students understood and followed the leader of leaders’ ideas, they got a Journal, until the entire school had them.”

Teddy sat back again, drinking his milk deeply as Albus, Rose, and Scorpius thought about what they had heard.

“When did this happen?” Scorpius asked.

“The timeline is never specific, almost as if they purposely messed it up until someone figured it out, but it was definitely after the first war and before the second, though the Journals might have been made just before or during the second war as it’s a rumor passed around,” Teddy admitted with a shrug.

“Why before or during the second?” Rose asked immediately.

“In the special room off of The Den that houses the Journals is a frame, picture, and plaque on the Hufflepuff wall. It’s of Cedric Diggory. The Journal was his and the plaque is a remembrance of him. He died when Voldemort was resurrected, so it had to be before the second war. Otherwise, no one knows for sure, though Professor McGonagall said that the original leader of leaders asked for it to be like this only until his children had gone through Hogwarts, so who knows, we might find out the truth sooner than we think.”

“Does Dad know this story?” Albus asked as he let it flow through his mind to always be remembered.

“With how often he sees Professor McGonagall for various laws and just to talk?” Teddy asked with a laugh. “I’d be surprised if he didn’t know.”

“Have you talked to him about it?” Teddy looked at Albus curiously before shaking his head.

“It’s a rule not to bring it up to adults, not even parents, only younger siblings, cousins, or friends who are going to go to Hogwarts in the future,” Teddy stated, though Albus saw a look on his face that confused Albus. It seemed as if Teddy was remembering something and deciding not to bring it up. Albus decided not to call him out on it.

“What if our parents know all about this and are just saying nothing?” Albus asked, putting pieces of the story together like how the Journals were around during his father’s time at Hogwarts.

“Then they’ll talk to us about it sometime in the future, Al, but for now, I’m not going to bother bringing it up,” Teddy said, finishing off his roast.

“Are there any stories about the Journals and how they came about?” Scorpius asked as Albus drank some of his milk, his eyes narrowed as he thought about what he had been told, still listening to Teddy at the same time.

“There are some stories, mostly revolving around the Hogwarts Protectors,” Teddy admitted, and Albus’ head snapped up.

The Hogwarts Protectors were a legend in the Wizarding world, a secret no one knew the truth about except those in the group and a few others. There was very little known about them, but some of the facts included that they were students at Hogwarts, fought during the Battle of Hogwarts, were unexpected and unknown, and turned the tide in the battle, shocking the Death Eaters and Voldemort just by being willing to fight. Some said they fought in ways unused before then while others said they were invincible and couldn’t die. No one knew much about them.

“What do you mean?” Rose demanded.

“This is the last thing I’ll tell you tonight as I believe Grandmum is going to bring out the cake, though I’ll tell you all more at another time if you remind me,” Teddy warned them, and all three nodded. “The Journals are said to have been used by the Hogwarts Protectors during the war, though no one is sure how, just that they helped during the battle to make things easier.”

“Wow…” Albus muttered under his breath, his mind flowing with possibilities of what this could all mean. For some reason, he felt he was missing a few important pieces that would make it all slide into place and make sense, but he also knew that he wouldn’t get all of the information that evening, so he fell quiet.

“Thanks for telling us all of this, Teddy,” Rose said, and Albus looked up long enough to nod in agreement.

“No problem, you three,” Teddy said. “Now let’s enjoy this cake!”

The four laughed as Grandmum Weasley had them sing Happy Birthday before sending out pieces of cake to everyone.

Albus thought it was a fun night, even if he did now have a mystery that would stay with him for years to come.

 


	6. Chapter Six

**January 23, 2016**

“Why are we having this conversation _now_?” Blaise complained as he and Daphne walked into the Potter’s back garden, having just used the Floo to come over.  
  
“Because, _Blaise_ , some of us have children going to Hogwarts next fall, and we need to decide this before that happens,” Harry told his old friend as he hugged Daphne. “Plus, Molly agreed to take the children of all of us for the afternoon so that we could figure this out, and you _know_ how good of a deal that is.”  
  
“True, true…” Blaise muttered quietly as he took a seat on the blanket that was spread out on the grass in the spacious yard.  
  
Around the blanket, Tracey and Theo were talking with Hermione and Ron, who Harry knew felt he was only there because of his wife, though Harry had invited both of them because he wanted both of their opinions. Draco was annoying Terry, and Astoria was trying to make him stop while Padma watched on, amused. Susan and Justin were just smiling as they watched their friends. Neville was talking to his wife Hannah about the different plants in Ginny’s garden.  
  
Walking from the house was Maya, Brandon right behind her, who was smiling at Harry but went over to Astoria and Draco, Astoria being close to the girl. Graham and Natalie appeared just behind his sister, obviously having come just after the pair. Luna was finally walking over with her husband Rolf Scamander from the other side of the house, where another garden was.  
  
As the next ten minutes passed by, the twins as well as a few other ex-leaders and all of the spouses appeared until everyone expected was there. In a way, this was a reunion of old friends and ex-leaders from Harry’s days at Hogwarts.  
  
Ginny finally came out of the house with her wand directing plates of food that varied from fruit to sandwiches of all types to crackers and other snacks as well as an assortment of drinks. Everyone helped themselves, Harry taking a sandwich and a Butterbeer before sitting next to Ginny on the blanket. Finally, they all settled down in a circle on the blanket, everyone facing Harry.  
  
“We all know why we’re here,” he began, and everyone nodded with small smiles on their faces. “Over the next few years, our children begin Hogwarts, and now we need to decide what we’re going to do with their Journals and how much we’re going to tell them about our time at school.  
  
“It’s a known fact to all of us that the Journals Samuel Davis made and taught Tracey and me to make are still getting quite a lot of use at Hogwarts, and they’re driving McGonagall up the wall because she has no idea about them still.” Harry paused there with a chuckle as the group all laughed and smiled, all of them amused that their ex-professor, now Headmistress, hadn’t figured it out after all these years.  
  
“Our children will all be getting their own within the first week as first years, and we now need to decide some things. Are we going to add the Maps to them? Will we put the extra additions to their Journals that none of the others have? We also need to decide the details around these things.” Around Harry, many of his friends were nodding in agreement and looking thoughtful.  
  
“I think we shouldn’t give them the special part of the Journal that the colored Journals all had,” Hermione finally said. “It just wouldn’t be fair, and they won’t really need them as much as we did. Back when we were at school, it was quite different…” Her voice died down, and Tracey picked up what she had been saying, it obviously being left up to her or Harry to say.  
  
“We were preparing to war, and then we were fighting in one,” she said in a quiet voice that carried to the entire group even though they were outside. “Like Harry always used to tell us, we with the colored Journals were his version of Voldemort’s Inner Circle, but it was different. Without that extra chat that made it so that no one could tell we were talking, everything we did would have been harder.”  
  
“The reason we fought this war was so that our children wouldn’t have to deal with anything like that,” Harry whispered, but like Tracey, his voice carried over the silent group of old friends, all of whom were remembering their past. “We succeeded, and now we’re going to do right by making sure they can have normal lives.”  
  
“I agree with Hermione,” Astoria finally said to break the silence that had fallen again once Harry had gone silent. “That part of the Journals was for Harry’s Inner Friends, and it’s not something our children will ever need.”  
  
“But the Maps are something they should have,” Ron added in, a smile on his face that Harry could tell made the twins proud of him.  
  
“We’re going to give them Maps, of course, but which maps?” Draco questioned, and everyone knew he was asking about the maps besides the ones of Hogwarts.  
  
“Hold on,” Susan said, making the people about to reply to Draco close their mouths and look at Susan, who was looking Harry straight in the eye. “Shouldn’t our children earn this sort of thing? We proved ourselves in so many different ways; our children need to as well. If we just give them everything, they won’t learn a thing.”  
  
“I think we can come up with a compromise,” Harry said slowly as he looked Ginny in the eye before catching Tracey’s; both of them had the same sparkle in them that Harry did.  
  
“I believe I like this, Gred,” George stage-whispered to his twin.  
  
“As do I, Forge,” Fred agreed.  
  
“The three of them have that look in their eyes,” George continued, his slight smirk growing as everyone but Harry, Ginny, Tracey, and Theo looked at between the three and the twins in confusion.  
  
“Oh yes, it’s that wonderful look in their eyes that they used to get long ago, when Harry came up with a new prank,” Fred agreed.  
  
“Or a new plan,” George added.  
  
“We get it,” Ginny told her older brothers with an amused look on her face, though the light in her eyes hadn’t disappeared.  
  
“What is your plan, Oh Great One?” Fred asked Harry, making the latter roll his eyes before answering.  
  
“You all know that Tracey and I got Sirius and Remus to add things to their original map when they put it into the Journals, right?” he asked, needing to be sure they all knew about it, and they did. “Well, why don’t we give our children the original Map in their Journals, and each family gets one additional part of the completed Map that I have up in my study?”  
  
“How would that work?” Neville asked.  
  
“They’ll have to send us the Journals so that we can add the Map to them, so we can add a charm that restricts them from doing certain things,” Tracey told the group, a mischievous look on her face that seemed to frighten Theo a little.  
  
“Like being unable to tell anyone about the Maps or anyone who doesn’t already know about the part only their Maps have unless they know about them already!” Hermione exclaimed as she figured out the idea that Harry, Ginny, and Tracey had come up with already.  
  
“Exactly,” Ginny said with a smile and a nod. “Our kids will be able to talk about the Maps with each other, but not about the one part only their family will have on it. An example would be if Harry and I put the Chamber on our children’s Map. They’ll be able to talk about any part of the Map but the Chamber to their friends until they begin finding out about it.”  
  
“How will they do that, though?” Ron asked his younger sister.  
  
“By being taken to it,” Terry said in awe, looking between the trio of Harry, Ginny, and Tracey with a look that showed how amazed he was by the idea.  
  
“The charm will only allow them to be unable to talk about it,” Padma elaborated as she saw a few confused faces still. “They’ll still be able to lead the others to the places, but we aren’t going to tell them about it, are we?” she added as she turned to the trio for confirmation, which she received.  
  
“They’ll have to figure that out, and only then will they have proved they’ve earned the chance to get it added to the Map,” Harry said. “We’ll add the places willingly, but only when they ask about each place specifically.”  
  
“What about adding Maps of other places?” Hannah asked while the others digested the other idea.  
  
“First they have to figure out we can do that,” Hermione said. “Then they’ll have to draw the place for us in specific detail. Finally, we’ll have to decide whether or not they’ve earned it, should have a Map of that place, and if we’re willing to add it to the Journals.”  
  
“I agree with Hermione,” Justin said, speaking up for the first time. “They have to earn it, and it’s only fair that we add the Maps if they have, but only then.”  
  
“What about after?” Luna asked suddenly, surprising everyone as she had been completely silent as she sat beside Rolf, who was the only one in the group who hadn’t gone to Hogwarts as a child.  
  
Harry and Tracey shared a long look that transmitted their shock to one another. Neither one of them had thought about what they would do after Hogwarts for their children. Now that they thought about it, they realized Luna had a good point.  
  
“I think…” Harry began slowly as thoughts sorted themselves in his mind, his Occlumency coming into play without any thought, “that Tracey and I might just be making colored Journals as a graduation gift for each of the children.” He looked at his sister in the eye and saw that she agreed with all of his thoughts.  
  
“We can ask sometime in their seventh years for a few colors they like best, telling them they can be random ones if they wish, and make them carefully and with a lot of thought. The parent of each child can help decide what parts of the Hogwarts Map they should have as well as what other extra things we should put in,” he finished, and he was pleased to see surprised nods as everyone realized it was a good idea.  
  
“And Teddy?” Ginny asked Harry quietly, though the question carried just enough for the others to be silent.  
  
“I guess it’s lucky we’re doing this now, in January, instead of in July, eh?” he replied with a grin as he saw that Tracey already had ideas flying through her head.  
  
“I believe you and I can represent Remus and Tonks, right, Gin?” he added, thinking sadly of the pair and how Teddy had had to grow up without his parents.  
  
“We’ve basically filled that role for his life,” she agreed sadly, obviously also thinking of the late couple.  
  
“I believe he’d love turquoise,” Tracey added, catching Astoria’s eye and sharing a grin with the younger woman, who had been the owner of the turquoise Journal in their group.  
  
“Is Victoire going to get one after next year?” Ron asked suddenly. “And all of the other Weasley children?”  
  
“He has a good point,” Fred mused.  
  
“There are people in the next generation of Weasleys besides our kids,” George added.  
  
“And they all earn Journals,” they finished.  
  
“I believe that can be arranged,” Harry said in amusement. “The thing is, I don’t believe it would be fair to put the Maps onto their Journals now since they’re almost done with school, Teddy and Victoire.”  
  
“And Molly, Lucy, and Dominique?” Hermione questioned, naming Percy’s two daughters as well as Bill and Fleur’s middle child, also a girl.  
  
“Second and third years, right?” Hannah asked, checking to be sure as that seemed like an age where getting the Map would be fine, which Harry agreed with.  
  
“Yeah,” Ginny confirmed.  
  
“They’ll get Maps,” Harry stated, “but not until next year when the others get them.”  
  
“That’s fair,” Terry said, “but I think Victoire should get one as well, even if it’s only for a year.”  
  
“From what we’ve heard, it sounds like she’s the most likely to get Head Girl in two years,” Padma added, backing up her husband. “Having the Map will mean she can do her job easier.”  
  
“Plus prank a bit,” Harry added as he saw the looks on the twins’ faces. “You both know she pranks sometimes, and she’ll be able to put James in his place for pranking too much, which is going to happen.”  
  
“True,” they admitted with proud smiles, both pleased that they had corrupted their nieces and nephews into loving to prank.  
  
“So, are we all in agreement of the plan?” Harry asked the group at large. “Every family gets one place in the castle that the Marauders never found to put on only their children’s Maps, and to get the other places added, they have to figure out the trick and then write home asking for it. As a graduation gift, each child will get a colored Journal as they originally used to be before the black Journals were made.  
  
“Also, to get extra maps or features on the Journals, they have to ask, and we’ll decide if they earn it or not. Tracey and I are the only two who know the Journals down to the original spells, so we’ll be the ones adding.” The twins were about to say something, but Harry had a feeling what it was, so he continued. “This means that _we’ll_ be the final two to decide if they earn something or not.  
  
“If we’ve heard they’ve been pranking too much, getting too many detentions, or anything of the sort, we won’t add anything until they behave better. Also, _both_ parents have to agree to the additions, not just one, so giving new additions just because your children are pranking really well will not be accepted, Silver, Emerald.”  
  
Everyone laughed at the use of the twins’ old nicknames by Harry, who just smiled at their mock glares.  
  
“I think that just about covers everything to do with the Journals for our children,” Hermione said once everyone was calmer, and there was a murmur of agreement throughout the group.  
  
“Does Teddy know who originally made the Journals, Harry?” Daphne suddenly asked, drawing surprised looks from most of the group.  
  
“Not that I know of,” he said with a shake of his head. “Trace and I asked the other leaders to have their groups not tell anyone once we had left school so that the fact wouldn’t become known.”  
  
“Does that mean we have to tell our own children about the Journals’ origins then?” Blaise asked, catching on to what his wife was asking.  
  
“Teddy’s asked me about the Journals before,” Harry began slowly, something in his mind trying to get to the front but unable to. “When he first brought it over during Christmas, he was surprised when I saw the Journal and smiled. He had been told by the older leaders that the Journals wouldn’t be visible to anyone who either didn’t know about them or weren’t family, so he hadn’t expected me to be able to see it.  
  
“So he basically knows I know about the Journals and they were at Hogwarts when we were, but he was also telling me the stories going around the school about the origins…” Harry trailed off and Ginny picked up the story, realizing where Harry wanted this to go, and she had been there to hear everything.  
  
“From what Teddy told us both, the origins of the Journals are quite the mystery, but there are facts about the Journals that are well-known and are accepted as fact.”  
  
The whole group was listening closely, all curious about what the school was saying about their Journals these days, and they all knew they had time.  
  
“The first fact, and the one that is most accepted, is that the Journals began appearing at Hogwarts during the Second War against Voldemort. Another is that the Journals they’re using now are the ones originally used back during the war, and some of the original owners got new Journals as they left.” Ginny passed the torch back to Harry, who smiled at her and began the story that Teddy had told them.  
  
“It’s being said in whispers around Hogwarts, in stories told through Journals, and aloud to every House in the Den,” — Harry paused slightly to share a grin with everyone as they thought about the Den and how it had originally been made — “that the Journals were how the Hogwarts Protectors did everything they did.  
  
“The Journals were made as a way to communicate, Teddy told us as he told us the story, so remember that as you listen. No one knew exactly when they originally popped up, just that by the time Umbridge came to Hogwarts, they were used by almost all of the school. When the Hogwarts Protectors formed, it’s said that the Journals were used to form meetings, make plans for battles, and everything else they did.  
  
“Even better, the Journals were impossible to find, so Umbridge was driven up the wall.” Everyone shared a smile at that memory. “It’s actually said that they were used during the Final Battle between Voldemort and me, making it so that the fight was organized and we were prepared.”  
  
“The thing is,” Ginny said as she took over again, “no one knows who made the Journals, how they were made, or what they were truly made for. Even more, no one knows who began all of the traditions surrounding the Journals.”  
  
“Traditions like a leader in each House for each year, agreeing not to judge anyone by House or blood, doing homework and other things together, and having a leader of the leaders?” Tracey asked in amusement.  
  
“Correct,” Harry said as he laughed, joined by most of the group as they all knew who had started all of it.  
  
“I guess that means we get to confirm every single part of that,” Blaise stated, answering his own question from before. “Even better, we get to fill in all the blanks.”  
  
“Want to know what I think we should do?” Draco asked with a smile that worried almost everyone in the group, though the twins, Ginny, and Slytherins weren’t at all worried as they understood the look better than the rest.  
  
“Victoire?” Harry replied with a smile of his own.  
  
“Correct,” Draco agreed with a nod. “She’ll find it as a huge joke, which will make it ten times better.”  
  
“And we can charm them so that the younger siblings cannot be told until after we’re done,” Tracey added.  
  
“So we can do it for a few years,” Theo agreed.  
  
“What are you all on about?” Ron demanded for those who had no idea what they were saying.  
  
“We give Victoire’s Journal the additions early and recruit her so that we can ask for the Journals the same day our children receive them in the next two years,” Blaise informed the rest.  
  
“How does that work?” Susan asked curiously.  
  
“Tracey and Harry can reconnect our Journals to the Journals of those still among the students if they want to,” Astoria explained with a smirk.  
  
“And that means we can confuse our own children!” Ron said as he understood it all.  
  
“This is going to be perfect,” Harry said with a mischievous smile that almost every single person shared, knowing that most of their children needed a good prank here and there thanks to the twins, who had corrupted basically every child.  
  
After that, the afternoon was spent happily, all of the friends chatting about work and other things.

………

**June 20, 2016**  
  
Harry waited on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters for the young man who was basically a son to him. Bill and Fleur were with him to pick up Victoire and Dominique, and he could see Percy and Audrey in the distance, waiting to pick up Molly and Lucy.  
  
Andromeda had wanted to pick up Teddy, but Harry had told her that he would pick up his godson as he had something he wished to give the newly graduated man. She had accepted the offer as soon as he quickly flashed the Journal Harry had for Teddy, a smile on her face.  
  
The Hogwarts Express pulled into the station, and Harry watched as students began to emerge from compartments, trunks and pets in hand. Friends said good-bye to each other with promises to keep in touch, secretive smiles on faces that obviously showed they were planning to use the black Journals. Children found parents, older siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, or guardians and left the Platform.  
  
Finally, Harry saw a tall, young man with turquoise hair exit the train with four redheads with him. Harry could only smile as he realized Teddy had been slower than most because he had been finding the Weasleys, who were cousins to him in everything but blood, and had helped them bring their trunks off the train by lightening them.  
  
Two of the girls left the group and headed over to where Percy was waiting to greet them while Dominique and Victoire stayed with Teddy. They didn’t even have to look to know where to find the trio of waiting adults as this was the section of the shadowed area where they always met when they came home, it being less obvious than most parts of the Platform so they weren’t stared at as much.  
  
“Hey, Harry!” Teddy exclaimed as he realized it was his godfather instead of his grandmother waiting for him.  
  
“How is my godson?” Harry asked with a smile as he put an arm around Teddy’s shoulders, barely listening as Bill and Fleur greeted their daughters.  
  
“I’m not so sure,” Teddy admitted, something he only did with Harry and sometimes Ginny. “It’s nice to be going home, but it’s hard to realize that I’m done and don’t have to go back to Hogwarts again.”  
  
“I know the feeling,” Harry sighed, remembering how he and his friends had felt as they finally left Hogwarts at the end of their seventh year, the war done, Voldemort dead, and ready to start a new life.  
  
“Come on ex-leader of leaders, we’ve got other places to be,” Harry said after a moment of silence between the pair, purposely using those words as he knew Teddy would be shocked.  
  
“Yeah, let’s —” Teddy froze and seemed to choke on his own words as he turned his head to face Harry, who was smiling down at his godson. “How did you…” Teddy couldn’t finish his question.  
  
“Know about that?” Harry finished. “Let’s just say I’ve got some sources, and a better understanding of the Hogwarts political system than you realize.” He smiled at the young man still under his arm and steered him through the barrier, using his other arm to push the trolley upon which he had placed Teddy’s trunk and tawny owl.  
  
He led Teddy to the car and they drove off, headed back to the Potter’s home where everyone was waiting for them. Harry knew that Teddy was still in a bit of shock, which would be the reason he hadn’t asked why they were driving instead of Apparating, which both could do.  
  
“How did you seriously know about the leaders, let alone the leader of leaders? And even more, how did you know I was one?” Teddy finally asked when they had been driving for about ten minutes.  
  
“Because I was the Slytherin leader of my own year,” Harry told Teddy with a smile as he pulled to a stop at a red light. Teddy was staring at his godfather in what Harry thought was a mixture of awe and shock, which just about fit the reaction he was expecting.  
  
“Does that mean one of the Slytherin leader Journals was yours at one point?” he finally asked quickly, obviously trying to get the question out.  
  
“No… none of those would have been mine,” Harry admitted quietly. “My Journal was… different.”  
  
“Oh,” was all Teddy said in response as he looked out of the window, probably in thought.  
  
“Were you a leader of the leaders as well?” Teddy finally asked.  
  
“Maybe,” Harry told his godson with a straight face as he drove, knowing it would drive Teddy crazy.  
  
“ _Harry_ ,” he moaned. “Can’t you give me a straight answer just this once?”  
  
“I’ve already given you straight answers today,” Harry reminded Teddy, quite amused by his reaction but hiding it.  
  
“Ugh,” Teddy groaned. “Why did I get stuck with a Slytherin as a godfather again?” he muttered under his breath.  
  
“Why did I get stuck with a Gryffindor as a godson again?” Harry retorted, neither of them at all hurt by the questions as it was a usual way they bantered when one or the other did something particularly Gryffindor or Slytherin.  
  
“Wait a second,” Teddy exclaimed as he looked out of the window. “What are we doing here?”  
  
Harry didn’t reply as he pulled to a stop at an empty field about another hour or so away from his home. He then moved out of the car and gestured for Teddy to follow him as he walked around the field.  
  
“What’s going on, Harry?” Teddy asked. “I thought we were going back to your house.”  
  
“Don’t worry, everyone knows we’ll be late,” Harry assured Teddy, finally stopping and sitting down on the ground. Teddy sat down across from him, but it was obvious his godson was confused.  
  
“You’re eighteen now, Teddy,” Harry began, “and you’ve just left Hogwarts. This is the beginning of your life.”  
  
“I know…” Teddy said slowly, not seeing where this was all going.  
  
“In January a bunch of us had a get-together of a sort —”  
  
“By a bunch of us, who do you mean among your large group of friends?” Teddy interrupted, used to these sorts of conversations and knowing Harry wouldn’t mind the interruption, which he didn’t.  
  
“Too many people to list,” Harry told him with a laugh. “Out of the Weasleys only the twins, Ron, and their spouses were there, but a lot of others were there as well.”  
  
“Go on, then,” Teddy said with a smile. It was obvious to Harry that he had just been looking for the Weasleys that had been there, and they included those Harry was closest with.  
  
“Well, we were discussing something that we’ve known for years would come up, and it’s coming up now as the first of our children are headed to Hogwarts.”  
  
“James,” Teddy said matter-of-factly and with a small smile.  
  
“James, Samuel, Fred, Jacob, Gary, and Samantha, actually,” Harry informed him, and he was able to watch as Teddy realized how many people were truly affected by all of this.  
  
“All of us realized that next year marks the year that we’ve got to begin telling our children the truth of our time at Hogwarts, and Ginny and I agreed that we’re going to start with you — right now,” Harry told his slightly shocked godson.  
  
“Me?” he asked, obviously surprised that Harry was going to tell him anything.  
  
“Oh, yes,” Harry replied with a smile and a slight laugh. “Especially because you’re the one who made it obvious all of us have things to tell all of our children.”  
  
“I did?”  
  
“The story that goes around about the origins of the Journals, remember it?”  
  
Teddy’s face showed shock, though Harry could tell he did remember it.  
  
“You see, the reason my Journal was different from the ones you’re used to is because mine was among the first to be made,” Harry said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the emerald Journal with silver lining on it that had been through so much with him.  
  
“The silver lining — it’s like the lining on the Slytherin Journals for the leaders but they also have emerald!” Teddy exclaimed as he stared at the Journal. “Yours only has silver because it’s already green, right?”  
  
“Correct,” Harry said with a smile. “Only two of us were able to do this, and I’m one of them.”  
  
“Ginny, right?” Teddy asked without much thought. “You’ve always told me you think of red when you think of her, and she’s a Gryffindor, so her Journal’s color should be red, if hers is colored.”  
  
“All of it is true,” Harry said, a bit shocked that he had figured it out until he heard the explanation and it made sense.  
  
“But… what does all of this mean?” Teddy demanded. Harry would have normally told him off for his tone, but he understood where his godson was coming from, so he let it go this once.  
  
“Tracey’s father, Samuel Davis, created the Journals when she was eight so that she, Blaise, Daphne, and Theo could talk as Pureblood children don’t get together often. At the end of our first year, they gave me my own, and it was how they figured out that my aunt and uncle’s home wasn’t a good place for me to live, so they managed to make Tracey’s parents my guardians.  
  
“Our second year the idea came to me about the black Journals, and her father made them.” He laughed at the look on Teddy’s face and could read the question on it. “Yes, Teddy, the exact same ones you’ve been using and seeing all seven years of Hogwarts.  
  
“You see, before I got to Hogwarts, the Houses were so separated that to be in Slytherin meant you were automatically a Death Eater, no questions asked, to the other Houses. When I got to Hogwarts and was Sorted into Slytherin, I was the shock of the school, and most of the Wizarding world, now that I think about it.”  
  
“But, Harry, you aren’t anything like a Dark Wizard or a Death Eater!” Teddy protested.  
  
“No, I’m not, and I made others realize it. Within the first day of classes, I had Theo, Blaise, Daphne, and Tracey all realizing that the Houses didn’t matter, though they still thought Muggle-borns were beneath them at the time. By the end of the first two weeks, all of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were friends of mine, and Hermione and Neville joined shortly after.  
  
“Draco became my friend at the end of the year, and Ron took until fourth year, but he came around. The twins and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team became friends with me around Christmas, as did Cedric Diggory.  
  
“As you can see, my group was growing, and the leaders among each House were becoming obvious as the year went on. Susan was the one the Hufflepuffs turned to, Terry and Padma shared Ravenclaw, and Hermione was the one Neville turned to, as they were the only Gryffindors to get along with us in our own year for many years.  
  
“When second year came around, we decided that we should keep the idea going. Maya was the natural leader for the Slytherins of her year, while Ginny was the leader for Gryffindor. A month into the school year, everyone got a black Journal except for a few specific people, who had colored ones.”  
  
“Who had colored Journals, Harry?” Teddy asked, finally interrupting.  
  
“Ask around and find out,” Harry told him with a wink.  
  
“Now, as the years went on, the first years joined the group and got Journals, all of them agreeing that Houses and blood didn’t matter. By the time Umbridge came to Hogwarts in my fifth year, there was almost no chance of her gaining much control over the students. Most of the Slytherin sixth years were part of the Journal group, as we called ourselves at the time, and they along with the seventh year Slytherins were the most dangerous ones to us in the school as Umbridge would have an easier time with them.  
  
“The twins had convinced the seventh years in all the Houses but Slytherin to join the group, and the sixth years followed, so it was up to me to get to the Slytherins. They had been watching us for years, and over half of them were on my side while the rest were basically neutral. All of the darker Slytherins had left by then.  
  
“When Umbridge proved to not be willing to teach us anything, Tracey and I agreed that it was time to take the training we had been getting since after second year to the rest of the school, and the Slytherins all followed.”  
  
“Is that when the Hogwarts Protectors were formed?” Teddy asked excitedly.  
  
“Yes, this is when the Hogwarts Protectors were officially formed, though a small group of us had been training since, as I said, before my third year. We trained in offensive and defensive magic, hand-to-hand combat, and with swords and daggers. There was a war coming, and we had to be able to fight. Just because we were kids at Hogwarts didn’t mean the war wasn’t going to be coming to us eventually, and we all knew it.  
  
“When the final battle came around, we were the army that shocked the entire Wizarding world. Not a single person, not even the Order members, had realized just how much we had been training, how hard we had been training, what we were training in, and how well we were doing.  
  
“The Death Eaters weren’t expecting to have to kill children, and most of them couldn’t do it. That’s the reason so many of us lived. Oh, we were good, we were organized, and we were ready, but not even all of that would have stopped us from dying if the Death Eaters had been out for our blood. Instead, the Order took the losses while we were like a secret weapon, except not even Dumbledore had known we were there.  
  
“Over three hundred of us were fighting, and the sixth and seventh years from my fifth year had kept on training, so we got even more reinforcements when they returned. Not even Dumbledore could hold us back, not when we were ready to do our part in the war.”  
  
“What about the first years?” Teddy exclaimed.  
  
“They fought as well,” Harry informed him with a grim look. “Oh, we kept most of them back with maps of Hogwarts to coordinate attacks and warn us, but some of the Gryffindors fought, and they had to deal with the grief when a couple of them had been forced to kill. It was a terrible battle, Teddy, very terrible, and it went on for hours.  
  
“The Journals marked us on the maps; we stood out. Red dots for the Gryffindors, blue for the Ravenclaws, green for the Slytherins, and yellow for the Hufflepuffs. The leaders were stars in the colors of their House, and I was a gold star. The Order members were silver with Dumbledore a silver star. Death Eaters were black with a black skull for Voldemort. Extra people were purple, while creatures were orange.  
  
“The first years and some older students kept track of all of this, the Journals being the only way to keep track of us all. Our smartest spent over a year working with Charms, Potions, Runes, and Arithmancy to figure out how to make something that works like a walkie-talkie in just a little earpiece, and they did it by the time the Final Battle occurred. We had enough to give even the Order members one each, and our strategists and watchers ordered everyone around.  
  
“When the final battle was over and done with, Kingsley asked me, the leader, what the name of our group was. I told him we were the Hogwarts Protectors, but I also told him that if he named a single name of a person in our group, we would all make him regret it. Not a single one of us wanted our names in the records. If they had to record us, they were to say that an unknown group that went by the Hogwarts Protectors fought in the battle, fighting for the school, nothing more.  
  
“Kingsley followed through, and not a single person realized that the students who had fought in the battle used swords were an unknown group, nor that we had changed the tide of the Final Battle and the war. We were all just students fighting because Voldemort gave us no choice, not because we had been training for it.”  
  
“But — there are rumors about you all!” Teddy exclaimed. “All over Hogwarts, students talk about the Hogwarts Protectors and how they must have been the older students of the school!”  
  
“Notice how they say older students?” Harry mentioned calmly, having already been informed of the rumors many years ago. “People guess that it was always us fifth through seventh years who turned the tide, but they’ve never realized that every single student at Hogwarts during that time had fought in some way. What Kingsley did kept that out of the rumors, the press, and everything else, which was why I did it.”  
  
“Oh…” Teddy said softly.  
  
“Please understand that the others will not hear anything beyond the fact that we were the original creators of the Journals and among those in the Hogwarts Protectors until the day they finish school, Teddy,” Harry said, trying to make sure he understood what he was saying, and Teddy did.  
  
“This is yours now, Teddy.”  
  
Harry held out the turquoise Journal Tracey, Ginny, and he had spent at least a month designing and a week making, wanting it to be perfect. It had the same setup as the black Journals at Hogwarts, though it wasn’t connected to those at the moment. The differences were in the addition things they had put into it.  
  
Not only did the Journal have a completed map of Hogwarts, but it had maps of the Burrow, the Potter house, the Ministry of Magic, his grandmother’s house, and a few other places they had decided on. The Hogwarts map matched the one Harry and the others had once used many years before, the colors and all.  
  
“This isn’t like the other Journal you used to use, Teddy, because we’ve added stuff to it. For now it can’t be used to talk to anyone, but once we add stuff to the Journals of the new first years in our families, you’ll be able to talk to all of them. What you have that the other one doesn’t is a map feature.  
  
“Hold your finger on the middle page and say the same thing that opens the Marauder’s Map, and you’ll get a list of maps to choose from. You can figure out the rest from there.”  
  
Teddy, staring at the Journal in awe, reached out to take it, but Harry pulled it back sharply, making Teddy look him in the eye. He gave his godson a hard look as he spoke, trying to make sure Teddy understood he was dead serious.  
  
“When you touch this Journal, you will be accepting many things. The first of which is exactly like the black Journals at Hogwarts. The second is that you cannot tell anyone who hasn’t finished school that they will be getting a colored Journal. The third is that none of the younger kids outside of Hogwarts can know that this Journal exists, only those in Hogwarts.  
  
“The next is that the only map anyone but you can see is the Hogwarts one, unless they’re out of Hogwarts, and even then they can only see most of it. You see, the map you have is the completed version, which includes many things the Marauders either didn’t find, couldn’t find, or weren’t around to see exist like the Den. Once you hold this Journal, you’ll be unable to talk to anyone about it unless they’ve been there.”  
  
“Basically, I can’t tell a lot of things to the family because they can’t know about things until they’re either old enough or find them themselves,” Teddy summarized with a smile to show that he understood.  
  
Harry held out the Journal and Teddy accepted it from his godfather, understanding what he could and could not do for at least two years in some cases while only a few months at the least for others.  
  
“Thank you, Harry,” he whispered softly as he hugged his godfather.  
  
“I’ve said this before and I’ll say this again, Teddy: You may not be my son, but you’re as good as,” Harry told him as he held his godson tightly, more proud of him than he had been for a while.  
  
The first Journal had been passed on, Harry thought, and more would be passed on in the future, but it was right that a Marauder’s son was first of them all, seeing as another Marauder’s son had been the one to start it all.

 


	7. Chapter Seven

**September 1, 2017**

Harry James Potter couldn’t help but roll his eyes as the voices of his two sons floated back to him, the two boys pushing their trollies loaded with trunks and an owl each towards platforms nine and ten as they bickered.  
  
“I’m just saying Rose might not be in Slytherin with you, Al,” James taunted with a light laugh in his voice. “Both of her parents were in Gryffindor, and her mind is as smart as any Ravenclaw’s, so there’s a good chance she won’t be with you and Scorp.”  
  
“And I’ve been _telling you_ that it doesn’t matter to us, James,” Albus retorted, his voice aggravated, but Harry could tell his younger son wasn’t to the point of being truly furious.  
  
“But let’s say Rose is in Gryffindor,” James began again, but this time Ginny interrupted from beside Harry.  
  
“Then Gryffindor will have gained an excellent student, just as any House will have, wherever Rose is Sorted,” Ginny stated, silencing their sons. “Now give it a rest, James, before I write to Neville and Minerva to tell them that you won’t be permitted to play Gryffindor’s first game if you _do_ make it onto the team.”  
  
“But _Mum_ ,” James groaned, turning to look at her while pouting. Harry saw Albus was smirking in amusement, knowing he wouldn’t be in trouble due to his brother starting the arguments.  
  
“James, just leave it, or I’ll make sure to back up your mother’s claims the next time I see your Headmistress,” Harry ordered, and James sighed before turning to see they had arrived at the hidden entrance.  
  
“Oh, _fine_ ,” James muttered just loud enough to be heard by all of the family. “See you on the other side, Al!” James took off running towards the hidden barrier that looked like a stone wall, disappearing the moment most would have expected him to crash. Albus took the chance to spin around.  
  
“Thanks, Mum,” he told her gratefully, and Ginny nodded.  
  
“James was being mean,” Lily stated from where she stood next to her mother, holding Ginny’s hand. “Daddy, can I prank him one more time before he leaves for being mean to Al and Rose and Scorp?” Lily looked up at Harry with her brown eyes wide and innocent-looking, but Harry just chuckled, quite used to the look.  
  
“Sorry, Lils, but not just before the train leaves,” Harry said, making sure she understood she wasn’t to prank him now, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t do a prank at another time, such as by sending him an owl or setting it up in his compartment. He could tell she understood when she nodded with a small smirk on her face, small hand in the pouch hanging from her gold dragonhide belt.  
  
“Remind me why we raised pranksters?” Ginny sighed, and Harry gave her an amused look.  
  
“Because how else were they going to be raised between you, me, Trace, the twins, Graham, Natalie, and even Euan?” Harry retorted. “Best we teach them to prank wisely than to be like your brothers were.”  
  
“True, very true…” Ginny muttered. “Well, Al, time to get onto the Platform.”  
  
Albus smiled slightly as Harry walked up to the trolley he was holding onto the handle of, the two of them pushing it through the barrier together. Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters was exactly as Harry remembered from the time he was eleven just as Albus was now with its busy crowds that were a mixture of Magical and Muggle as well as the scarlet and gold train. A light layer of steam covered the area, escaping from the train and making it hard to see specific people, for the most part.  
  
“Where do you think Scorp and Rose are?” Albus asked as Ginny and Lily joined them, James having already run off to put his belongings on the train, most likely.  
  
“I think I know,” Harry declared. “Lily, come with us to know where to find your mother and me, and then you’ll have to come back after the train leaves, okay?”  
  
“Yes, Dad!” Lily giggled, and Harry knew she would be recruiting Hugo for her prank. Ginny just shook her head and didn’t argue, knowing how inevitable it was. They had both found it worked better if they just allowed their children to do this sort of thing while putting limits on it such as when they had to be back.  
  
Harry led the way towards the corner of the Platform he usually stood at to wait for his family when he was doing the pick-up in June, such as he had done with Teddy and James. When they arrived, Rose and Scorpius ran towards Albus, who was grinning widely and pleased to see his best friends. Lily ran over to Hugo, whispered in the redhead’s ear, and they both disappeared, Hermione and Ron looking after them in worry. Before Hermione could yell for them to return, she glanced at Harry, and he shook his head in amusement, making her sigh in exasperation.  
  
“What happened this time?” she asked Harry and Ginny as they joined her, Ron, Draco, and Astoria.  
  
“James was teasing Albus by claiming that Rose had a good chance of not being in Slytherin with him and Scorpius, and Lily wasn’t pleased,” Ginny sighed. “Harry here told her not to prank James before the train leaves, so I suspect they’re leaving a gift for him. I wasn’t going to argue, not after what James was saying as he _knows_ those three are worried they’re going to be separated for the first time in years tonight.”  
  
“Not totally separated, not like it would have been when we first started, but I can understand their fear and worry,” Harry added, and the others nodded in agreement. He suspected they had all been dealing with the well-hidden worry of their eleven-year-old children the past few weeks as their first night of Hogwarts drew near.  
  
“Where are your sisters?” Ron questioned, looking at Harry and Astoria pointedly, and they shared a look before shrugging simultaneously. “Well, _that_ was certainly helpful.”  
  
“Trace and Theo might have already come and left,” Harry admitted. “The goblins needed Theo in early today for something, and Tracey’s team in the research lab is very close to a breakthrough on that Charm that will allow us to broadcast our own television stations to only televisions that have a special, magical piece in them. They’ve been working on it for over three years now, and they need everyone there as much as possible.”  
  
“Blaise is probably around here somewhere,” Draco added with a roll of his eyes. “You know how he can get in big crowds at times. He’s probably along the edges, trying to keep from being trampled like last year.” The others chuckled as they remembered hearing the news that Blaise had actually received some large bruises and fractured a couple of his toes due to standing too close to the barrier and getting hit by a trolley moving at full speed as a first year ran through. He had been declaring he would never step foot on this Platform again, yet Daphne still made him pick up Samantha in June.  
  
“As for my sister, she’s probably already at Hogwarts with Neville and the other professors, preparing for the school year,” Astoria stated with a shrug. “She usually leaves today to Blaise and heads in early.”  
  
“Well, I believe that’s James and Lily and Hugo coming, so let’s see what they’re talking about,” Ginny suddenly said, looking out into the steam. Rose, Scorpius, and Albus, who had been talking about what games they were going to play on the train, also fell silent as James led his sister and Hugo over, all three running. Lily and Hugo both looked a bit disgusted about something, and James appeared to be bursting with news.  
  
“I just saw Teddy snogging Victoire!” the redheaded second year exclaimed, making Harry blink. He had noticed the looks those two shared when they were hanging out, but he hadn’t realized they had begun dating, perhaps even from before Teddy left Hogwarts. If he felt any of the children could keep something like that a secret for a long period of time, it would be those two. Harry would have to ask Teddy about it later.  
  
“Our Teddy, Teddy Lupin, was snogging _Victoire_ , our _cousin_!” James exclaimed again, probably expecting more of a reaction. “I asked him why he was here, and he said he was seeing her off.”  
  
“So, Harry, how is it you managed to raise your eldest to be like Ron here?” Draco asked Harry curiously, turning away from James in the process, making James pout slightly at his big news being ignored.  
  
“Oi!” Ron complained, but all of the kids except James were laughing at his expense.  
  
“Probably has to do with the fact that Ron is James’ godfather, you know?” Harry replied, quite amused by his eldest son’s face as he realized the adults didn’t seem to care about his news.  
  
“Does no one care that Teddy is snogging Victoire?” he demanded, and the adults all looked at him again.  
  
“I only care because I had to see it!” Lily declared loudly, Hugo nodding beside her, and Harry realized what had disgusted them so much.  
  
“Wait a second, why were you over there rather than here with Mum and Dad, anyway?” James asked Lily and Hugo sharply, turning to face them properly.  
  
“Mum and Dad sent us to go find you,” Lily replied instantly and without giving anything away, Hugo agreeing to the lie easily. They had most likely decided on the story ahead of time.  
  
“We wanted to wish you a good school year and remind you that classes and homework and grades come before pranking,” Ginny told James as she kissed his cheek. “And, please, James, _try_ not to get so many detentions this year, or you’ll be grounded again this summer.”  
  
“Yes, Mum,” James sighed as he moved to hug Harry before his aunts and uncles moved forward to hug him as well. “I’ll see you at Christmas! Write you soon!” he called as he ran back towards the train that was waiting for the final ten minutes to pass before it had to leave.  
  
“Albus, those same things apply to you as well, understand?” Ginny reminded their youngest son as she spun to face him next.  
  
“I know, Mum,” Albus sighed in exasperation, and Harry caught the unspoken message: _As if I’d get caught pranking, anyway, let alone allow my grades to slip so it became more obvious_. Oh, yes, Albus was going to be in Slytherin for sure with the way he thought.  
  
Those words to Albus and James from Ginny set off a chain reaction of final words to the new first years.  
  
“Rose, no matter what House you’re Sorted into, we’ll be happy for you,” Hermione said kindly as she knelt down a bit to look her daughter in the eye before hugging her tightly.  
  
“Thanks, Mum,” Rose mumbled while returning the hug.  
  
“Dad, what happens if Rose isn’t in Slytherin?” Albus whispered, pulling on Harry’s sleeve so he could bend down. After weeks of denying it would be a problem to everyone, Albus was finally speaking of his worry to Harry. That alone told Harry how afraid Albus was of losing his “sister” due to this Sorting, and he knew he had to reassure his son well.  
  
“Well, Al, I guess it’s a good thing you inherited the Cloak, isn’t it?” Harry replied just as quietly, one side of his mouth tilted upwards. “You’ll also have classes together, the Den to hang out in, and if what I’ve heard is true, you’ll learn of something else sometime in the near future. Don’t worry, you’ll still see and hang out with one another no matter where you’re Sorted.”  
  
“What do you know that I don’t?” Albus demanded at a normal volume, but Harry had seen his son relax at his words.  
  
“Oh, Al, hasn’t your father told you yet?” Astoria asked with a laugh, and looking up, Harry realized she and Draco had finished talking to Scorpius.  
  
“Told me what?” Albus asked, and Harry could see that the other kids looked just as interested.  
  
“Here’s a little secret for you five,” Astoria stated mischievously, as if she knew this would be something Harry wouldn’t want to hear, and he had a feeling he didn’t. “There was no one — and I mean _no one_ — who knew more about the secrets of Hogwarts and what went on in that castle than Harry, and it’s still true, even today.” Astoria glanced up at Harry and winked, making Harry roll his eyes in amused exasperation.  
  
“Really?” Scorpius asked, his eyes slightly wide in surprise. “Uncle Harry knew more than anyone?”  
  
“He’ll try to deny it, but yes, he did,” Ron agreed. “You wanted to know the quickest route somewhere, or needed a rumor confirmed or denied, you went to Harry.”  
  
“Our Alpha,” Draco muttered in Harry’s ear, a smirk on his face when Harry turned and gave him a slightly dark look.  
  
“Basically, what they’re saying is, your father knows plenty about Hogwarts that you’re ignorant of,” Hermione explained to Albus and the others, her tone amused.  
  
“Okay, enough about me!” Harry exclaimed, drawing laughs from the children. “You three, the train is leaving in a minute, so listen, please. No matter what happens tonight and the rest of this week, you’re best friends — siblings. The entire family will always love you, even when Minerva sends us owls constantly about pranks and detentions.” The kids grinned, Lily and Hugo laughing quietly. “Go to Hogwarts, learn lots, and most importantly, have fun.”  
  
Still grinning, the trio of first years gave the adults and their younger siblings one last hug, promised to write soon, and raced towards the nearby train. Harry, Draco, and Ron levitated their trunks in behind them, Lily and Hugo passing the three snowy owls that were Hedwig’s children up to their siblings. The whistle blew then, and all three looked out the window of their compartment, waving as the train began to move.  
  
Soon it was around the bend and out of sight.  
  
“And you say you’re not our Alpha,” Ginny admonished as they waited for the Platform to clear somewhat. “The way you spoke, you’re nothing but the alpha.”  
  
“Wolf instincts,” Harry admitted sheepishly, and Ginny laughed. He turned towards where the train had disappeared.  
  
“They’ll be fine,” Ginny told him softly, touching his arm.  
  
“Of course they will be,” Harry agreed, turning to face her with a smile. “They’re all Slytherins in their own ways, and Hogwarts is a much better place to be than it was before. They’ll love it.”  
  
As a group, the Weasleys, Potters, and Blacks left Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters.  
  
Harry was the conquering alpha who had survived so much in his youth, and he wouldn’t change a single moment of it, not with the amazing life he now led.  
  
The life of a conquering alpha, indeed.

**_The End_**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is the end of my series (except for a related one-shot). I really hope you've enjoyed the ride. I'm so glad I've been able to share it with ao3.
> 
> Please, leave kudos or comments. Both are very appreciated. :)


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